Safe and Sound
by deathbybunny
Summary: With their lives over in the MGLN universe, Nanoha and her friends are given a second chance to find happiness. Without the complication of magic, things should be easier right? Not quite. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Alright, it's time for a new story! I'm sure you're all excited about that. I'm still wondering where exactly this story is going but I guess I'll figure it out as I go. I tend to do my best writing on the fly anyway. So, without further a do, here's the first chapter to Safe and Sound.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

Safe and Sound

"_We'll be together forever, Nanoha."_

_The skies were ablaze with magic. War had reached their home. For Nanoha, this was the first large-scale war she'd be directly involved in. It was frightening, but not so much for herself, but for her family. Vivio, now at age 17, was old enough to be part of the battle. She thanked her lucky stars that Hayate had pulled strings and had her placed anywhere other than the front lines. A frowned immediately marred her pretty face. Her daughter may be safe, but not her partner, her lover, her wife, her everything, she was not. Fate was out in the front lines. She was the first to engage the enemy. She could be one of the first to possibly fall._

_It was a terrifying thought that she would not be able to help even with how close she was._

"_Hey, don't lose your focus." Vita chided. "We need you to be at the top of your game. If we stop them today, we'll be able to push them back and win this war."_

"_Right." Nanoha nodded determinately. She was right. Her mind couldn't afford to be anywhere else. _

_She looked back at the city she'd called home for most of her adult life. It was eerily empty. The vast majority of the city had been evacuated weeks ago when the rebel forces began to show signs of breaking through the defense around the planet. It wouldn't be long until they would reach the town. For a few minutes, tense silence filled the area._

"_They come!" Vita yelled._

_In an instant, the silence was shattered. The skies filled with beams of magic and screams. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Nanoha wondered if Fate was okay. Time was lost in the fury of battle. Nanoha had no idea how long she and her fellow comrades defended their home. Although Vita had told her to keep her focus, Nanoha was finding it harder and harder as she witnessed enemy and allies fall. Was Fate all right? Were her friends okay? She wished she knew. It was in that one moment of distraction that the attack came from her blind spot._

"_Watch out!" Vita screamed in horror._

_Nanoha saw it coming but could not move. Her barrier went up too late, the force shattering through her half made shields. She closed her eyes and waited for the hit, but it never came. Instead, a familiar pair of arms encircled her followed by a scream of pain from a voice she knew all too well. Her heart froze in fear. Opening her eyes, she was greeted to a sight that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Fate had shielded her from the blast._

_Tears fell from cobalt eyes._

_Fate smiled. Even in her state of near death, she smiled at the woman she'd given her life for. A shaky hand rose to wipe the tears from her love's eyes._

"_Tears don't suit you." Fate rasped._

"_Fate…chan."_

"_I'm sorry," Fate's smiled became regretful. "It looks like I'm breaking my promise to you."_

"_Don't say that! You're going to be fine!"_

"_Please tell Vivio I'm sorry too. And to Hayate-chan, Signum, Shamal, Vita, Zafira…to everyone."_

"_Please, stop! Please…" Nanoha sobbed into the blonde woman's shoulder._

"_Nanoha, I'm certain that even with my unnatural birth, I was born for you and only you." Fate coughed. She knew her time was running out. " I was born to love you in this life and the next."_

"_Fate-chan, Fate-chan, Fate-chan!" Nanoha screamed. She couldn't be losing her. Not now. Not like this. "Please, don't say good-bye!"_

"_Thank you for loving me, for giving me a wonderful family…for saving me. Thank you for everything. I love you Nanoha Takamachi Harlaown."_

_She was gone._

"_Fate-chan?" Nanoha gently shook the now slumped body in her arms. "Fate-chan?"_

_Nothing._

"_Hey, wake up Fate-chan. You can't sleep in a place like this." A hallow laugh followed. "What would Vivio think if she heard her Fate-mama fell asleep in the middle of battle?"_

_Still Fate did not stir. Nanoha only cried harder. She was gone. Taken in an instant. Her Fate was dead._

"_FATE-CHAN!"_

_A pink light engulfed everything._

"Fate-chan!"

Momoko Takamachi heard her daughter's anguished scream and rushed to her youngest side. The scene before her was becoming far too frequent for her liking.

"Nanoha?"

"M-Mama?" Her nine year old sobbed.

Momoko sat at Nanoha's bedside and pulled the younger girl into her embrace. Nanoha cried freely into her mother's chest. Momoko stayed by her side until her tears were exhausted and she'd fallen asleep. It didn't take long. Nanoha had been getting very little sleep from the continuous nightmare that plagued her. They seemed to be happening more and more often. She tucked her daughter back into bed and kissed her forehead. Upon returning to her room, she spotted her husband, Shiro Takamachi, sitting awake.

"Again?"

"Yes."

"Is she alright?"

Momoko slipped beside him. Shiro pulled her into his arms, giving whatever comfort he could.

"As well as she can be."

"It's the third time this week."

"I know." She bit her lip. "What more can we do? I feel so helpless."

Shiro was unsure. When this all began, it wasn't so bad. When their daughter turned 9, she began having these dreams about being a magical girl. At first they thought it was just her over active imagination. Then she began to give names to the dream girls that were supposedly magical girls like her. One in particular she seemed to be fond of. However, a few months ago things changed, Nanoha began to have one recurring dream, one where a blonde haired woman died in her arms. At first they thought it was just a nightmare brought on by watching too many violent movies, but the dream persisted. They tried to figure out more about the dream, but Nanoha could only tell them that the woman, Fate, died saving her in her dream. When asked why she found this so sad even though it was only a dream she responded with:

"I don't know."

They weren't sure how or if they could help. How did one control dreams?

"All we can do is be by her side and give her all the love and support we can. This nightmare can't last forever."

"I hope you're right." For her daughter's sake, Momoko wished the nightmares would pass soon.

In her room, Nanoha shifted uncomfortably, she reach out to one side of the bed, instinctively looking for something.

"Fate-chan…" she mumbled as she fell further and further into slumber.

**An:** Yes I know this is extremely short for what I usually write, but this is only an intro. The next chapter will definitely be longer and give you a set up into what kind of world the cast has been reborn into. Anyway, reviews are always appreciated so, you know, leave a comment if you can.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** I got this done way faster than I thought. Then again I couldn't stop thinking about how this chapter would go. Even at work, all I did was write notes for this story! The minute I got home I began typing up the rest of the chapter for everyone. Haha, I guess the excitement of a new story is keeping the juices flowing. I was also very happy with the positive response everyone had for the first chapter. I hope to continue to hear from everyone as the story progresses. Now to answer some reviews!

**kaito kenshin**- I think this chapter will answer questions about Fate's introduction.

**Zona Rose**- I really haven't decided how far into the future this is. I figure it'll be far enough into the future that the Earth had a restart. As you can see I haven't quite thought that through. It's fiiiine~

**Kiruchi**- Its going to be a normal school life…with a twist. You'll see what I mean.

**Fate T. Harlaown**- She's dreaming of her past life so whatever she dreams has already happened.

**Sammie-chan89**- You guessed correctly.

**Closetotaku711**- I'm not going to lie; there have been ideas for a second chapter to Someone Like You. I got them jotted down somewhere and I'm really tempted to just write it.

That's it for now. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this amazing cast of characters. Sad, I know.

Safe and Sound

"Don't let them get away!"

Lindy Harlaown gave chase to the two girls in front of her, like had been for the last three years. This case happened to cross her desk when rumors of twin assassins reached her ears. Normally, this wouldn't raise any eyebrows. It wasn't anything new that assassins worked in the shadows of their society. It was a reality a lot of people were not aware of. Assassins lived more in the realm of myth and legends in the minds of normal people. Lindy was one of the few who knew the truth and tolerated this bitter fact. There was one thing though that she could not let slide. That's why she was chasing these two girls. She chased them for one simple fact: the rumored assassins were children. Even in the assassin community, children assassins were taboo. Almost no one would try to produce such young killers. Almost. There were some who were not afraid of the stigma that came with the risk of raising ones so young to kill. The woman her squad had just captured was one of those people.

Precia Testarossa did what most dared not to do. She raised twin assassins, some of the best in the business if Lindy was to believe all the rumors. As if Lindy wasn't disgusted enough, these two girls were Precia's own daughters. She turned her own flesh and blood into merchants of death. The green haired woman thought of her own child and couldn't help but wonder how a mother could do such a horrible thing.

She brought her focus back to the two girls attempting to escape. Lindy had chased these two mysterious twins for a few years now. Ever since she first heard about them, she could not let got of the case. Something inside her told her to keep chasing, to keep fighting for them. Today, all her hard work would pay off. She just needed to capture them first.

"Vice, they're heading your way. Be careful, they're just as dangerous as the rumors say." Lindy spoke into her earpiece.

"_Understood. My team and I are ready to capture."_

Lindy clicked off her communication device and watched the girls run right into their trap. They had grown so much. The now 12 year olds were starting to shoot up in height. They would be real beauties when they got older. In an odd way, she felt like she had watched them grow like she had her own child. She remembered the first pictures she received of the two. They had been 9 years old and already heavily indoctrinated into the life of an assassin. Alicia and Fate Testarossa were almost identical. Even she had a hard time telling the two apart. It took her awhile to find little things to distinguish one from the other.

While they had looked almost identical as children, their appearances changed as they grew. The older of the two, Alicia, kept her hair shorter than her younger twin. She also liked ribbons and in a morbid way, that became her calling card. After she completed an assassination, she'd tie a long red ribbon on the pinky of her victims.

Fate on the other hand, grew her hair out well past her butt. A black ribbon held it together near the end. Unlike her sister though, Fate left no calling card, at least not one that she was conscious of. The only sign that she was the one that committed a kill was when the bodies were examined. The younger blonde had a habit of using knives and preferred killing up close. Specifically, she liked to get close enough to quickly stab the vital points of her victims. Her speed and precision were so good that sometimes victims didn't even realize they'd be stab until it was too late.

Fate and Alicia also both had different dominant hands. While Alicia was left handed, Fate used her right. Another thing Lindy had come to discover was in their eyes. It was barely noticeable, but the two girls eye colors were different. Where Alicia's were more maroon pools of red, Fate's were burgundy. It was little discoveries like these that caused Lindy to feel attached to them and only fueled her need to save them from a life they had not chosen.

"Give it up girls. We have you surrounded."

The blondes were breathing heavily. Wounds covered their bodies, but her team wasn't doing much better. The only thing they had going for them were their numbers and even that was barely giving them an advantage. It'd taken half her squad to take down Precia **with** her aid. The twins were proving to be just, if not more, difficult than their mother. It was obvious they were trained well. Part of her had to wonder, were they just as lethal when they were younger?

"I ask that you give yourselves up peacefully. If you do, I can promise we'll help you."

For the first time in her life, Lindy heard the voice of Fate.

"Help?"

It was quiet. Something she hadn't expected of such a dangerous girl.

"Help with what?" Alicia questioned.

Alicia's voice sounded so hollow yet she sensed the confusion as well. Why wouldn't they be? It's not like anyone had offered them anything different than the life they led. Their mother, if she could even be called that, certainly made sure to keep them on a tight leash. She was more of a handler than a mother to these kids. Did they even know what it was to feel love? To know what kindness was? Lindy knew it was a long shot, a dangerous one, but she was going to put everything on the line for them. Why? She still didn't know, but she was hoping to find out what was driving her to reach out to the blonde girls.

"A second chance."

**-SafeandSound-**

**3 Years later…**

"Nanoha! You'll be late for school!" Momoko hoped that would get her daughter up. She'd told her not to stay up too late but she had forgone her mothers warning and stayed up watching a movie.

"I'm up!"

Momoko smiled as her youngest came bounding down the stairs. Her little girl was growing up to be a very beautiful girl. Today was a special day; she'd be starting her first year at TSAB Academy. It was a prestigious school where a lot of important families sent their kids, but this wasn't your average private school for rich kids. TSAB Academy was special because it was also a school for kids who wanted to work as bodyguards or in any aspect of the security industry. Most of these prospective kids went for the chance to work for the families who sent their children to the school. TSAB also did a lot of recruiting for those who showed promise and if they were not able to afford the high tuition, they would be offered a scholarship. The main goal was to get the best of the best to attend. So far, their methods have been successful. There was a high probably that one seeking employment as a bodyguard would be hired while they attended the school, if not then they still had a good chance to be hired somewhere else simply due to the fact that they graduated from the academy.

It was thanks to this that, over the years, the school became the place where political figures, multi-millionaires, and business moguls sent their kids. After all, what better place for your kids to attend than a school that had a small army of trained and armed bodyguards?

Nanoha bound down the stairs followed by her older sister Miyuki and her older brother Kyouya and his bodyguard Shinobu Tsukimura. Out of her three children, Kyouya was the only one with a personal bodyguard.

The Takamachi family may not seem like it, but they were a family of great influence. When Momoko had first met Shiro, he was only a boy with a plan to own his own business someday. Early on, Shiro had seen the benefit that could come from starting up a business in the security industry. Everyone wanted to feel safe and there were people out there, people with money, who'd be willing to pay any amount just to have that feeling. With this thought in mind, Shiro worked hard to create the most sought after security business in the industry. Not only did he offer affordable home security for middle class families, but he also trained some of the best bodyguards in the business. Political figures in particular were some of his most frequent customers.

"Do I have to have find a bodyguard at this school mom?" Nanoha whined.

"You know it would ease your father's mind if you did."

Nanoha groaned. "But I can take care of myself. It's not like dad didn't train us in self defense."

Momoko chuckled. "I know dear but you know how your father is."

"Extremely over protective?" Miyuki joined her family at the breakfast table. "He does realize we're not children anymore right? I don't see why he's suddenly pushing us to have one when we never did as kids. I mean why did Kyouya even have to have one? He's a boy! He can take care of himself."

"I already made that argument before. He didn't care." Kyouya sighed. "Well it's not like it's that bad guys."

Nanoha grinned evilly. "That's only because you're in love with Shinobu-san."

Kyouya promptly spit out his orange juice.

"N-Nanoha!"

Shinobu Tsukimura did a magnificent job of keeping the blush off of her cheeks. This was one of the reasons that Shiro accepted Shinobu as Kyouya's bodyguard. That and a thorough investigation of her family background convinced him he made the right choice. Shinobu was from a family that practiced the long forgotten art of ninjustu. Only those who were part of the Tsukimura clan were allowed to learn the secret art. It was definitely rare to have someone, much less a family, know such rare skills. Shiro felt fortunate that Shinobu and Kyouya met at TSAB and hoped that his two daughters would also find the right person to look after them.

"Kyouya and Shinobu sitting in a tree!" Miyuki added in.

"S-Shut up!" Kyouya tried to feebly defend himself. "Arg! I'm going to school!"

It wasn't all that unusual that relationships would develop between bodyguards and the people they protected. In fact, some looked at this as the way to find their future wife/husband. Love didn't always develop but it was undeniable that a special bond was formed between the two people.

Momoko shook her head. Sometimes she wondered how her children hadn't killed each other yet.

"Alright, you girls need to stop picking on your brother. You know he's still in denial of his feelings for Shinobu-chan." Nanoha and Miyuki giggled. Even their mother could see there was something going on there. "At least he's one step ahead of you girls. Now if only you two could find your future wives."

It was Nanoha and Miyuki's turn to spit out their orange juice.

"W-Wife?" Nanoha coughed.

"I thought we were suppose to be finding bodyguards!" Miyuki exclaimed. "And what makes you think I like girls!"

Momoko smiled mysteriously. "That is what I said, but you never know. You may find yourselves falling for a special young woman. As for how I know…mother's intuition."

"I-I'm going to school." A blushing Nanoha stammered.

"M-Me too!" Miyuki followed.

Momoko chuckled at her daughter's reactions. They could be so silly sometimes. Her smile faded slightly thinking about how she discovered that Nanoha had a special preference for girls.

It had been years since her dreams about being a magical girl began. After they'd weathered the onslaught of nightmares for one month, Nanoha started to tell them about the strange dreams she'd have. It would've been hard for Momoko or Shiro to take Nanoha's dreams seriously had they not been through the anguish of her nightmares. Nanoha always gave them lots of information about her dreams. That wasn't normal. Not with dreams anyway. It was more common to wake up and almost immediately forget what it was that had happened except for a few vague details, but not Nanoha. She'd give very specific descriptions of people and even names. It was almost scary how much of her dreams she could recount.

Because Nanoha was giving them so much information, Momoko decided to keep a journal of the things her daughter dreamt. Every time something new came up, she'd bring out the journal and jot down everything. After all this time, she began to think that maybe there was more to these dreams than she'd originally thought. What did they mean though? She wasn't sure yet but she felt that the least she could do was document what she could. Momoko was just glad the nightmares weren't as prevalent.

The one-month after Nanoha had turned 9 had been a living nightmare and one she hoped to never repeat again. During the month of May, her daughter still had the nightmares but not quite as much. Usually, she'd have the dream once and it would not bother her for the rest of the year. Momoko suspected this was so because Fate died in that particular month.

Momoko finished her breakfast and walked to her study. She sat down and opened up a particular drawer. In it was a leather bound journal, the one she used to record Nanoha's dreams. She pulled it out along with various other folders. Each one had a picture of a girl of varying ages. Nanoha did not know it but Momoko had taken the names of the girls Nanoha dreamt of and looked to see if they might be real people. She'd started doing this when Kyouya met Shinobu Tsukimura, one of the girls her daughter had seen in her dreams. To say Shiro and Momoko had been shocked was an understatement. When they'd met the girl, it was even more mind-boggling. The description Nanoha had originally given them about the dream Shinobu was so accurate it was scary. Thanks to this event, they both began to search for the other girls and they'd found them.

They also found Fate Testarossa Harlaown.

She reached for that particular folder and couldn't help but frown. From the things her daughter had said about her, the girl sounded like an angel. This though, was not what she had expected.

An ex-assassin?

There was no such thing in her mind. Once someone had been through the indoctrination to become an assassin, it was almost impossible to undo the damage. They could not have a normal life even if they wanted. The things they did would always haunt them after they'd have a taste of what a normal life was like. Most did not endure living with the guilt of the things they'd done before taking more drastic measures to end the suffering.

She wished this Fate were more like dream Fate because she knew the meeting between her daughter and Fate was inevitable.

Momoko sat back in her chair and was reminded of the original reason she thought of all this.

One night, she happened to be walking by Nanoha's room and decided to check up on her. It was a habit she'd gotten into since the dreams began. She sat by her bedside and watched for few minutes as she slept, making sure that all was well. Then she heard it. It was faint and she thought she'd imagined it until Nanoha repeated it again.

"_Fate-chan…. I love you."_

After the shock had passed, she began to wonder just what these dreams really were. So far, the people Nanoha had dreamed of proved to be more than just imaginary. Her worry now was what role Fate would have in her daughter's life, especially since Shiro and Momoko wanted nothing more than to keep them from ever meeting each other. She was broken out of her thoughts when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Nanoha is in danger." Shiro answered gravely.

"What? How?"

"Harlaown succeeded in enrolling Fate at TSAB Academy."

**-SafeandSaound-**

Nanoha waved to their driver as she and Miyuki exited the car.

"Are you ready Nanoha?" Her sister asked.

"I guess so. Anything I should know about this school?"

"Hmm." Miyuki went into her thinking pose. "There's a lot of weirdo's here."

"What?" Nanoha asked in disbelief.

Miyuki shrugged. "Well you know what they say about rich people. They can be an eccentric bunch."

The two girls walked through the school gates, following the crowd of students who all seemed to heading in the same direction. If Nanoha remember correctly, they were going to the auditorium for the opening ceremony. It was customary for all the students to attend so Miyuki had no choice but to sit through the new student orientation again. Although she hoped that something interesting would happen this year. Her own opening ceremony had been such a snooze fest.

"Are we considered to be one of those weird people?" Nanoha asked her sister.

"I don't know. We seem pretty normal to me, but who knows how "normal" people view us."

"Then we're probably weird."

The two sisters entered the auditorium and took their respective seats with their classmates. Nanoha looked around nervously. This was the first time she would be attending a normal school. Her father's paranoia had kept her at home most of the time and she understood why. Because he provided political figures with bodyguards from his company, he had formed enemies from people that his employees had foiled. It was no shock that these people would go to great lengths to somehow get back at the man who they deemed an enemy. Still, it did little to scare her. She wanted to do this. She wanted to be just like other kids her age.

She continued to look around and couldn't help but notice that a lot of the students walked in with bodyguards that were definitely not students. She wasn't surprised thought. This school allowed for families to choose to hire their own guards or find one at the academy. If they chose to hire one on their own, they had to make sure to inform the school and disclose everything about the person they chose in order to gain permission for them to attend.

Nanoha sighed. She wondered if she'd be able to find someone her father would approve of.

**-SafeandSound-**

"Must we attend?"

"I agree. This seems pointless."

Lindy sighed. Sometimes she hated how in sync Alicia and Fate seemed to be.

"Yes you have to attend and there is always a point to the things we do."

The two girls in front of her frowned. Even though they were having this argument, she couldn't help but smile. Three years ago, the girls would never have even tried to. Not that they could if they'd wanted. The girls were under such heavy surveillance that Lindy feared they'd never be given a chance to change their life around. Three years ago, the girls would've just silently nodded with whatever plan she had for them, not once questioning why. This rebellion in them was a good sign. A very good sign.

"I do not want to attend." Fate stated.

"Agreed."

"And why is it that you suddenly don't want to go? You guys agreed when I suggested you attend school with kids your age."

"Yes, but you failed to inform us that this school isn't normal." Fate crossed her arms over her chest.

"Who told you it wasn't normal?"

"Chrono." Alicia mimicked her twin's pose as they stared at their adoptive mother.

"_That little…"_

"Alright, I will admit that this school is not normal per say."

"What's abnormal about it?" Alicia asked.

"Well…this school is for kids of the elite."

"The rich?" Fate's eyebrow shot up.

"The rich, the famous, and those with political power. This is where the cream of the crop send their kids."

"Then I fail to see why we should attend. We already have almost nothing in common with others our age as it is. You expect us to fit in with these "privileged" people?" Fate argued.

Lindy sighed again. At least no one could say that Fate and Alicia were dumb blondes. The girls knew how to twist arguments in their favor.

"Very well, I'll be straight with you. The reason I want you to attend this school is to introduce you to the kinds of people you'll be working with."

"Work?" Alicia asked confused.

"Yes, as you girls know, I do not want you to use your assassin training for killing or at all really. For the last 3-years I've been trying to get rid of the mindset you two have been living most of your lives. It hasn't been easy, but we're still here and still fighting. That's why I know sending you to this school is what is best. I know you will find what you need here."

"What is it that you think we lack?" Alicia asked genuinely curious.

Lindy smiled. "Someone to protect."

"Huh?" both blondes questioned.

Lindy took both of them in her arms and hugged them as tightly as she could.

"My sweet, semi-innocent children. You've spent most of your lives learning how to end life rather than protecting it. You've grown up not knowing what love is and I know that even now, that concept is still foreign to you." Lindy pull away and vaguely wondered if they would ever discover what love was. "I can only teach you so much by keeping you with me like this. That's why I'm sending you there. I'm preparing you for your future professions as protectors. So please, give this a chance?"

It took a few minutes but the girls awkwardly returned the hug their adoptive mother had given them. Lindy knew that meant she won the argument. She quickly rushed them off to change into their school uniforms. They were already incredibly late as it was. The girls would definitely be missing the opening ceremony. She hoped the chairman of the school wouldn't be too upset by this. Then again, it helped that Lindy was friends with the chairman so she wasn't overly worried about it.

**-SafeandSound-**

Nanoha was doing her best to stay awake during the opening speeches and other ceremony activities. So far, the school seemed like any other really. Then again, it's not like she had a reference point to what a normal school was but since nothing seemed to have blown up or gone awry, she assumed this was normal.

"And now, please welcome your class representative for the freshman class, Yagami Hayate!"

"_No way…she's real." _Nanoha was stunned. The brunette mage in her dreams was real. After having confirmed that Shinobu Tsukimura was a real person, she began to wonder if all the other girls she dreamed of were real or not. This was reinforcing the thought that perhaps they were.

"_Does that mean Fate-chan is real too?"_ she couldn't help but feel hopeful at that. Out of all the people she'd dreamed of, she knew Fate was special. In what way, she wasn't sure yet, but if they met, she knew she'd figure it out.

"Did she say Yagami?" some of her classmates began to whisper.

"Isn't that the Prime Minister's granddaughter?"

"I heard she's adopted."

"She must think she's special because someone took pity on her."

Nanoha frowned at the whispers that followed the brunette girl as she walked to the podium. The auburn haired girl never understood why people talked badly about someone they knew nothing about. She guessed it couldn't be helped when egos such as the ones in the room were together in one place.

"Good morning fellow classmates. As your class representative, I look forward to making this year a memorable one. That being said, it is my personal goal to ensure that everyone knows the joys of cosplaying!"

"Eh?"

"That's right! What better way to bond as fellow students than to share our love of dressing up as fictional character from…Wait a minute Vita! I'm not done!" the entire student body was unsure how to react to anything their supposed representative said, much less to witnessing her being dragged away from the podium by a red haired girl that was shorter than her.

"_Well that certainly wasn't normal."_ Nanoha thought. Maybe this school wasn't going to be as normal as she thought.

One of the teachers took this opportunity to move things along.

"Ah, well, it's time to head to your classes for home room. If you are a new student please head to the tables on the right side of the auditorium. Schedules are organized by last name so please make sure you are in the correct line when retrieving your class schedules."

Nanoha stood up with the rest of the students. Making her way over to the other end of the room, she looked for the correct line to get her class schedule. It only took a few minutes to make it to the front.

"Name?"

"Takamachi, Nanoha."

"Takamachi… Ah here it is." The short brown haired girl smiled. "If you have any questions feel free to ask any of us."

"Ah, thank you, umm…"

"Limietta Amy." The girl smiled again.

"Limietta-san, I appreciate it." Nanoha's eyes quickly glanced at the imposing young man standing behind her. She quickly diverted her eyes and walked away. She deduced that he was probably her bodyguard. She frowned at having to think of such things again. She still had to find one of her own. Miyuki didn't have one and she'd been at this school one year already. Kyouya got lucky and found Shinobu on his first day.

"_Even if I find someone, dad still has to give the okay."_ She dreaded that part of the process since Shiro tended to be more over protected when it came to his daughters. If she knew her father, then the chances of him approving anyone on the first try was almost zero. It was going to be a long road for sure.

Nanoha had not been paying attention to where she was going, as she was about to turn a corner. Neither had the person that slammed into her.

Fate was in a hurry to get to the auditorium to get her class schedule. She and Alicia had already missed the opening ceremony but they weren't really concerned about that. What she was more concerned about was having to be around so many people all the time. The two girls hated being around that many people. Being with Chrono and Lindy was one thing, but this was completely out of their element. She didn't know how they would get through school.

Then it happened.

She hadn't been paying attention to her surrounding, something she was usually very diligent at from being an assassin, but since they were in a rush, she had sacrificed her awareness for instead concentrating on her speed. Being the faster of the two, she had pulled ahead of Alicia. Her twin though **had **been paying more attention and she'd tried to warn her twin of what was about to happened, but Fate did not hear what she'd said.

It's why when she turned the corner, she was caught off guard that there was someone there. Without thinking, Fate shifted the girl against her so that when they fell, the blonde would receive the brunt of the damage from the fall.

It happened so fast that the only reason Nanoha realized she had fallen was because she felt the pull of gravity on her body. The auburn haired girl suddenly became aware that she was lying on top of someone, someone very feminine. Slowly, the two girls opened their eyes. Nanoha was almost speechless to see the pair of burgundy eyes that haunted her dreams.

"Fate…chan?"

**AN:** Phew, I wrote a lot. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best to paint a picture of what kind of world they live in but I do realize this it's probably a lot of information I'm throwing at you. If you guys still have questions please feel free to ask. Remember to review and thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** I'm back! I felt bad leaving you guys with that cliffhanger so here's another chapter. First thought, some reviewer responses.

**Anonymous**- I'm glad the chapter didn't feel like an info dump. I was worried I'd be throwing too many things at you. Here's your semi fast update for you.

**Curry**- Actually, the title did come from the Hunger Games theme song. It just happened to be what I was listening to when I was writing the first chapter and I thought it fit the story. Now that I think about it, most of my stories get their titles like that. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this?

**Yukiyuuki-** Yeah, Momoko is awesome like that. Best mom ever?

**Closetotaku711-** I really don't have anything planned out for this story. I'm just making it up as I go along. Haha, glad to know that it seems like I know what I'm doing, but I don't.

**Kaito kenshin-** I think I answered one of your questions in this chapter.

**Tsuchiyasa-** I can tell you for sure that there will be no love triangles. Everything else is still up in the air.

I think that's it. Enjoy the chapter everyone!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

Safe and Sound

"_Fate…chan?"_

It was an odd feeling. Staring at the unknown girls cobalt eyes, Fate felt like she'd known her all her life. The warmth she felt from this girls touch…she'd never felt anything like it before. At that precise moment, the blonde's fight or flight instincts kicked in. Here was this girl who knew her name, a girl she'd never even met before. The only thing she wanted to do was get away from her. To get away from this unknown situation, regroup, and come up with a plan to deal with it later. Nanoha barely had time to say anything else before Fate shoved her off.

"Eep!"

"Nanoha!" Miyuki ran to her sister's side. She'd been following her since she left the auditorium, trying to catch up. Then she saw her run into someone and both of them fall to the ground. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." Nanoha then switched her attention back to the blonde girl. Another girl that looked exactly like her was helping her up.

"Are you okay Fate?"

Fate only nodded before getting to her feet. Although she had the urge to get away as soon as possible, she also couldn't ignore the fact that she'd been the one to slam into the auburn haired girl because she wasn't paying attention. Lindy would undoubtedly be disappointed in her for not even apologizing. Steeling herself, she turned back to the girl sitting on the ground. Fate kept her face blank of emotions, something she still did when she was thrust into a situation she was unsure of. She walked towards Nanoha and held out her hand.

"I apologize for running into you." Fate said emotionlessly. Inside though, she was anything but calm. Something about this girl had her wanting to do something she wasn't familiar with. An emotion she could not put into words. She was confused and…

"_Scared?"_

Fate had never felt this emotion before. All her life, she'd been conditioned to rid herself of such a useless feeling. Anything that could possibly cause any interference in her work was useless.

"I-It's okay. I wasn't paying attention to where I going."

Their hands touched.

A spark of electricity traveled through their joined hands.

Fate let go of Nanoha's hand so fast that Nanoha fell back down. Miyuki was quick to catch her sister before she landed on the floor again. She couldn't help but glare at the blonde before her. Was she trying to help or make things worse?

"Why'd you do that for?" Miyuki asked angrily.

Instead of answering Fate quickly walked past them.

"I apologize for my sister's behavior. She must be more nervous than I thought about her first day." Alicia gave a quick bow before chasing after Fate. The older blonde thanked her fantastic acting skills. Alicia was very rarely worried, but Fate's odd behavior had her wondering what had happened. There was no way Fate was hurt from that little accident. As bad as it sounded, she'd seen Fate in worse conditions. A lot worse. She finally managed to catch up with her twin.

"Fate?"

"I'm okay." Fate answered a little too quickly.

Alicia frowned. Fate was just standing there, looking at her hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Not knowing exactly what to do, considering dealing with emotions was not their strongest point, Alicia grabbed her twin's hand and pulled her along to the auditorium. They still had things to do and the best way to get Fate out of her odd behavior was to get her mind focused on a goal.

"Let's get our schedules and head to class. Lindy-san would not be happy if we ditched any classes on our first day."

"Right, we can't mess up here."

Alicia was still not convinced everything was completely okay with her sister but chose to let it go for now. Just what had that girl done to Fate? Whatever happened between them must've been big. Fate wasn't one to just act so…dazed. Alicia knew she couldn't let this happen to her sister again. They couldn't afford to lose it while in this place. They already had too many eyes on them, waiting for them to make one wrong move before throwing them back in a holding cell for the rest of their lives.

"_I better make sure she stays away from that girl."_

**-SafeandSound-**

"Are you sure you're okay?" Miyuki asked again as she and Nanoha walked into one of the school buildings.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just surprised I guess."

"That was awfully rude of her to let you fall a second time."

"It was an accident. I shocked her when our hands touched."

"Oh like a static shock? Still she shouldn't have let you fall."

"_That wasn't like a static shock…at all."_

Nanoha couldn't believe it. Fate was real. Not only that but she was attending the same school as her! She had to meet her again. She had to talk to her. Placing her hand over her heart, she could still feel it beating erratically against her chest.

"_I have to confirm these feelings…"_

Nanoha once again reassured her sister that she was fine before they separated to go to their respective classes. She wondered if Fate had gotten her class schedule yet. Would they be in the same class? If they were it would be amazing. She'd have many more chances to get to know the mysterious blonde. There was something very different about the girl she'd dream about and the girl she met. The one thing she could say for sure was that there was a certain amount of sadness in those burgundy eyes. A sadness she saw often when she'd dream of them as children. With a sigh, she sat down in the closets available seat. Class would be beginning shortly.

"Hey there!"

"Eh?"

Nanoha was surprised at the girl who suddenly slammed her hands on her desk in greeting.

"I said hi! My name is Hayate Yagami!"

"_H-Hayate? It's really her! I'm finally meeting her!"_

Realizing she was starting to stare, Nanoha snapped herself out of her stupor. "Oh! I'm Nanoha Takamachi. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Hayate grinned. "I've heard about you. Is it true this is the first time your attending school?

"Umm, yes it is. My father was quite paranoid about letting us attend school since we were little. He still is."

"Quite understandable. He's made a few enemies after all."

"How do you know that?"

Hayate grinned. "You really have no idea how famous you are do you?"

"Nyahaha, I can't see how I'm the famous one. You're probably a lot more famous than I am. You're the Prime Minister's granddaughter!"

"Perhaps, but being famous does have it's advantages at this school." Hayate took a seat next to Nanoha and pointed towards one of the girls in her class. "See her? That's Arisa Bannings. She's the only daughter of the multimillionaire Augustus Bannings, head of the Bannings Auto Company."

"_A-Arisa Bannings? Another one? Oh my god! Is this really possible?"_

Nanoha had never really paid attention to the news or anything that was in the entertainment industry. The odd time she did watch anything it was usually some drama show. Now she wished she had paid more attention to the world around her. Perhaps if she had, she'd know about the girls she'd dreamt about. Hayate was the only exception but that's because it had been widely publicized when the Prime Minister adopted the girl before her. She never thought she'd be meeting her like this though.

"And that girl over there." Hayate continued, unaware of her new friends state of shock, "That's Subaru Nakajima, the daughter of Genya and Quint Nakajima. Her parents aren't as famous in the world but that's only because the ignorant masses don't realize that the everyday medicine's they use are thanks to the Nakajima's. This kind of fame though does little for her at this school, where most value how important someone is based on how many people know about them."

"Don't I fall into that category?"

"Yes, but I think it's better that you're not a public figure. I find that the people who are at "the top" tend to be a bunch of jerks."

"You're one to talk Yagami." A pink haired girl walked up to the two. Her amethysts eyes narrowed at the brunette. "You've only gained recognition because Graham-san took pity on you. These nobodies don't belong with the rest of us as it is." She sighed dramatically. " If only the chairman of the school would listen to my families proposal and only allow those of true status to attend. This school just isn't what it use to be."

Nanoha felt her anger begin to bubble. Who did this girl think she was? She could take being insulted, but no one talked bad about her family. No one had the right to belittle all the hard work her father put into his company. Nanoha was about to do something that would more than likely get her suspended, when Hayate placed a hand on her shoulder stopping her.

"My, what a great idea Florian-san. If true status were properly defined then perhaps your application would've been rejected. It would've been quite fortunate for the rest of us so we may not attend with someone like you."

The pink haired girl seemed to at a loss as to what to say, so instead she huffed and walked away from the brunette. Hayate chuckled at the girl's reaction.

"Well that got rid of her. Much better than what you were about to do."

"You knew?"

Hayate laughed. "I seriously thought you were going to punch her out without letting her finish her sentence."

"I was very tempted to."

"I'm glad you didn't. It would be a shame to have my new friend suspended on her first day."

"I doubt my parents would've been happy with the outcome either. Thank you Yagami-san."

"No." Hayate said seriously.

"Eh?"

"You can't call me Yagami-san. It's far too formal. It gets tiring hearing everyone address me like that. You have to call me Hayate-chan or I won't respond to you."

Nanoha giggled. Hayate Yagami was quite the character. If she had to compare her to the dream Hayate, they were almost identical.

"_I wonder is everyone else is the same?"_

The chatter in the room halted as a woman with pink hair strode into the room. If Nanoha had to describe her, she looked rather serious.

"Everyone take your seats. Class will begin in a few minutes."

The people chatting around the classroom milled around looking for the perfect seats before settling down. The bell rang too soon. Nanoha looked around for a certain blonde girl, but she did not spot her. Maybe they weren't going to be in the same class? The intercom over the school suddenly came to life.

"**Alicia and Fate Harlaown. Please report to the Chairman's office. Alicia and Fate Harlaown, report to the Chairman's office please. Thank you."**

"Well that explains where those two are." Their pink haired teacher said. Nanoha felt happier than she'd ever been. "Alright settle down class. My name is Yagami Signum. I'll be your homeroom teacher. So, let's begin with role call."

Whispers went around the class. Yagami? Were she and Hayate related some how? No one was brave enough to disturb their stern looking teacher during her roll call. Instead they chose to keep the question to themselves and ask later when a chance presented itself.

**-SafeandSound-**

Alicia and Fate had just received their schedules when the announcement was made over the intercom. The girls looked at each other confused. What could they have possibly done? They hadn't even been on campus long enough to get into any serious trouble. Whatever it was, they wouldn't know until they went there. The girls nodded to each other and headed into the direction of the office.

Upon reaching the office, they waited outside until the secretary allowed them to enter.

"The Chairman is ready for you." The red headed woman motioned for them to proceed into the room.

When they entered, they were surprised to see that Lindy was in the room. On the other side were a man and a woman they'd never seen before.

"Please take a seat girls." A brown haired man behind a giant desk said. On the desk a nameplate read "Zest Grangeitz".

The girls obeyed and sat down. They were unsure what this was all about. What had they done?

Zest stood up and walked towards the giant window behind his desk. The silence was beginning to get to the twins.

"Do you know what it means to protect someone?"

Sensing that the question was directed at them, the girls answered.

"No." Alicia said truthfully.

"But you know what it means to take a life correct?"

"Yes." Fate answered this time.

Suddenly Zest turned and flung a knife at Lindy. In the blink of an eye, Fate intercepted the knife and Alicia attacked the man that dared try to harm her adopted mother, but before she could reach the man, she was pinned to the ground by the other unknown man that was in the room. Assuring that her mother was all right, Fate went after the man that was restraining her twin. She still had no idea how or why this was happening but she knew she couldn't let her family get hurt. Not while she was still able to fight. The principal blocked her path but that didn't stop Fate. She delivered a roundhouse kick to the man but the bigger man easily deflected her attack. That didn't discourage the blonde girl. She instead went to the man's shins causing him to fall onto his back.

"That's enough!" Zest screamed from the ground.

Everyone froze in their spots. Fate had whipped out two knifes and was about to throw them at the man restraining her sister, while Alicia had finally maneuvered herself so that she was able to get to her own knife she'd hidden on her person. The Chairman stood up and calmly dusted himself off.

"I think these girls have proven themselves don't you think, Takamachi-san?"

"_Takamachi?"_ both girls thought. They'd heard of him from Lindy since he was the premier bodyguard trainer. Fate put away her knifes while Shiro Takamachi released Alicia. The older blonde backed away towards her sister.

"What's this about?" she finally asked.

"Takamachi-san was under the impression that I made a mistake allowing you to attend this school. Lindy-san of course argued your case but Takamachi-san was unconvinced. Thus I set up this little test."

"How was attacking Lindy-san a test!" Fate frowned. "It's one thing if you came after us personally but why get her involved?"

Zest went back to his chair and sat down. "Takamachi wanted to prove that you were only capable of killing and unable to protect anyone other than yourselves. Thus I set up this test in order to test his theory. Yet you did something unexpected. You protected your adopted mother and went after the person who tried to harm her."

Lindy took this chance to hug her two girls. Her hard work was starting to bear fruit.

"I'm so proud of you girls."

The two blushed slightly. They were more or less use to this type of affection in private, but it was another thing for her to do it in front of strangers. Zest turned to the dark haired man in his office.

"Don't you think you owe them a chance?"

Shiro crossed his arms over his chest. The woman that stood next to him smiled slightly.

"Shiro, I think they deserve it don't you?"

The dark haired man huffed. "I suppose, but that doesn't mean I trust them." He turned to Lindy and the two girls. "I'll be keeping a close watch on you two. One wrong move and you'll be out of here faster than you can blink. I will not allow my children to be placed in danger by you two."

With that, he walked out of the office. The woman smiled apologetically at Lindy and the girls.

"I'm sorry about his behavior. He's just worried. I must admit I was also skeptical about letting them come to this school, but after what I saw today, I have been given some peace of mind. Don't let Lindy-san down girls."

Lindy smiled. "I think my girls will surprise you Momoko-san."

"I hope so." Momoko returned the smile. She nodded to the occupants in the room and followed her husband out. She was extremely relieved to see that Fate and Alicia were not the killing machines the reports made them out to be. Then again, it had been a few years since Lindy took them out of their environment and began undoing the damage their years of assassination training had done to them.

"_Perhaps Nanoha will be in good hands after all."_

**-SafeandSound-**

Their lesson was interrupted when two blonde girls entered the classroom. Signum turned to the two girls who handed her a note explaining their tardiness. Nodding, the pink haired teacher turned to her class.

"Everyone, this is Alicia and Fate Harlaown." She turned to the girls. "Take any available seat. That will be your seat for the remainder of the year."

Nodding, the two girls surveyed the classroom for any empty desks. They spotted two seats, but Fate felt herself become sweaty and nervous. The empty desk was in front of the auburn haired girl she ran into that morning.

"You can sit here Alicia-chan! Fate-chan!" Hayate waved at the blondes.

The two girls flinched slightly at the girl's overly friendly and loud voice. Who gave her permission to call them by their first names? Still, they had no choice. All the other seats were already taken. Steeling themselves, Fate and Alicia took a seat in front of Nanoha and Hayate respectively.

"All right class, let's continue where we left off."

Nanoha did not pay attention to the rest of the lesson. All she could do was stare at the blonde girls back. How incredibly lucky was it that they were in the same class and sitting an arms length away from each other?

"_Fate-chan…"_

Fate on the other hand felt anything but lucky. Why did she have to be in the same class as the girl who made her feel uneasy? She had enough things to worry about without having to wonder why this girl had this effect on her. Maybe she could get her class switched? That would be hard though and she didn't want to be apart from her sister. They were each other's support and she couldn't imagine being away from her. Sighing, she did her best to concentrate on the lessons of the day.

Before they knew it, lunchtime had arrived. Everyone filed out. Fate got out of the classroom as fast as she could so that Nanoha would not have the chance to talk to her. The auburn haired girl though was not discouraged. She'd get her to talk to her no matter what. Hayate was about to walk out of the classroom when Signum stopped her.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"We'll have to find out won't we?"

"I don't like you being so close to them."

Hayate grinned. "Relax. They don't seem to be dangerous. Plus, Fate-chan looked like she was terrified of being around Nanoha. Not something a big bad assassin would do right?"

Signum shook her head. "Looks can be deceiving Hayate-chan. Please be careful."

"If it makes you feel any better, Vita-chan will be with us while we're at lunch."

"It eases my mind. We'll all keep an eye on you."

Hayate smiled. "I know you will. I'm not worried about that."

With that, the brunette ran to catch up with her new friend. She was well aware of the danger the twins could pose, but she could tell that Nanoha saw something in Fate. Why else would the girl be running after someone that clearly wanted nothing to do with her? If only for her sake, Hayate would help keep Nanoha safe. Who knows? Maybe Fate and Alicia would surprise them?

Hayate knew well that the girls faced a lot of adversity the minute everyone found out they were ex-assassins. No one would take it easy on them. No one ever treated ex-assassins as anything but murderers, the lowest of the low. It's why suicide rates were so high for them. The difference was though; those girls had someone helping them along the way. Lindy would not give up on them easily and if the girls allowed it, she was sure that Nanoha would not hesitate to become a pillar of support.

"_This should be an interesting school year."_

Hayate skipped off towards the auburn haired girl who was, for a lack of a better word, stalking a certain blonde girl.

"_Yup, this should be a __**very**__ interesting year."_

**AN:** And there's chapter three. I hope you all enjoyed. I hope I can get better at writing action scenes too. I haven't ever tried to do that before so hopefully I won't be too horrible at it. Well, don't forget to review and until next time guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **It's time for another chapter! I was working on the next one for My Life Would Suck Without you but as you can see, I got distracted with this story. I do have 10 pages written up for the other one though so I'll be going back to that soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Also, thank you for all the reviews! 72? For just 3 chapter? I'm blown away. There's only one other story of mine that has a crazy number of reviews and that's Someone Like You. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Speaking of reviews, here are some answers to your questions.

**K-n1n3**- They will eventually remember. As for Vivio…let's just say I have a lot planned for Safe and Sound. I may need to split it up into two or three separate stories.

**Anonymous**- I don't plan for Alicia to break up anyone. I like writing her as the good sister for once and I want to do something different for her.

**Yukiyuuki**- The way I think I'm going to work the school rankings is as follows: kids of famous people (mostly those in the entertainment industry) are top tier although certain kids of political and business figures can fit into this category as well. Kids of political and business figures are medium tier, and kids of everyone else are bottom tier.

**Kanazaki **- I will indeed be adding Amitie and U.D.

That's it for now. Enjoy the chapter!

Safe and Sound

"I hate school." Fate grumbled as she sat at the breakfast table with Alicia and Lindy. Chrono had moved out to live with Amy a year ago after he became her official bodyguard. Even now, it still felt a bit odd without the older boy there to tease them. That teasing, although annoying, helped get them to break out of their shells after they'd moved in with the Harlaowns.

"What happened this time?"

Alicia smirked. "Fate is just upset that there's a girl stalking her."

"What?" Lindy was shocked to hear that. She never thought that either of them would ever acquire anything like a stalker. She was more certain that everyone would be avoiding them now that someone at the school had revealed her daughters past.

Her thoughts darkened. She'd done her best to make sure that that particular piece of information would be kept under wraps so that they may have a semi-normal school experience. Yet, by the end of their first week, everyone knew. She was still trying to figure out who it was exactly that leaked the information but she'd had no luck. Either it was someone higher up who did it or someone with enough money to cover their tracks. It would be difficult to find out who was responsible since everyone fell into those two categories. Still, the girls hadn't complained about anything happening to them since the reveal. She knew however that they were more than likely being ostracized and bullied. Yet the girls did not talk about anything of the sort happening. This was the first time any discontent was voiced and it didn't even have anything to do with them being ex-assassins. It was good to know that they were stronger than the people trying to break them, but Lindy was still worried. All it took was one thing to break someone, just one crack in the armor for everything to come crumbling down.

She was just happy that the girls weren't forced to leave the school. To her shock, Shiro Takamachi vouched for them and that convinced all the other concerned parents to withdraw their demands of expelling the twins. It was proof of how much of an influential person Shiro was. She doubted the man realized just how much his word was trusted.

"Yeah, this girl has been following her around since the first day of school." Alicia said breaking Lindy out of her thoughts.

"It's annoying. She's annoying." Fate stabbed her eggs as she said that.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Lindy asked as she spread some butter on her toast.

"No, she makes me uneasy."

Alicia took a sip of her orange juice. "Not that I blame you. She's the daughter of Shiro Takamachi. We wouldn't want to get involved with her anymore than necessary."

Lindy almost spit out the coffee she was drinking. "She's the daughter of Shiro-san?"

Alicia nodded. "Yeah, she always makes these weird eyes at Fate and is constantly sighing. How she's even passing our classes is a mystery since she's always staring at Fate during our lessons."

"I wish she'd just leave me alone."

"Now, now Fate-chan. I'm sure she means no harm. She probably just wants to be friends with you."

"I don't need friends."

Well that was a bad sign. Maybe the isolation was getting to them. Not that she could blame them. Who would want to be friends with people who were making their lives harder? She would feel a bit better if they would actually talk to her about the hardships they were facing, but she knew she shouldn't push them about it. Patience was a virtue with these girls, although it didn't hurt to let them know time and time again that she was there for them if they needed it.

"She can't be all bad if she does Fate-chan. It wouldn't hurt to be nicer to her. You'll never know unless you give her a chance."

Fate grumbled something unintelligible. Lindy smiled. If Nanoha was getting to her this much, then it was probably a good thing. Better than her not feeling anything towards her peers. She turned her attention towards Alicia.

"So, have you acquired any stalkers Alicia-chan?"

"No, please don't jinx it Lindy-san."

The cyan haired woman giggled. If Alicia had one it would be too funny. The girls finished their breakfast without their mother picking on them anymore. Lindy drove the girls to school, just as she always did. She'd begun to drive them ever since their secret had been leaked. Not only did this give her a chance to bond with her girls more, but it was also a good chance for her to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. One could never be too careful.

"Have a good day at school girls. Remember if anything happens…"

"We know." Fate smiled. "We'll call you if we need you."

Lindy smiled back before driving off to work. Few people knew what she actually did, but if she had to describe her job, she'd say it was akin to that of the secret service. She worked for a branch of the government that supposedly didn't exist. They handled matters that most of the general public didn't know threatened them. Their division was known as Riot Force 6 or RF6 for short. It was one of the reasons she was aware of the assassin community. She was in charge of trying to figure out their hierarchy and how they worked. Although they usually worked solo, that did not mean there wasn't an over all organization that handled their business, however it was difficult to find the headquarters of the Assassin Guild.

Her phone suddenly went off.

"Harlaown speaking."

"_Ma'am, Testarossa wants to speak with you."_

Lindy's eyebrows furrowed. In the three years they'd captured the woman, she hadn't spoken one word to any of them. Why now?

"I'm on my way."

**-SafeandSound-**

Nanoha watched with concern as Alicia and Fate entered the classroom. Ever since it's been revealed they were ex-assassins, it seemed that almost everyone was trying to make their lives a living hell. Everyone in the class had scooted their seats away from the two girls with the exception of Hayate and herself. Not to mention all the horrible things everyone else would write on their desks and lockers. The girls didn't seem to be affected and that worried Nanoha even more.

"_Maybe it has something to do with their training."_

This morning though, there had been a vase with a single white flower on both their desks along with a note telling them to do the world a favor and to kill themselves. Nanoha had been so mad. So furious. She'd wanted to yell at everyone and make them apologize for all the weeks of bullying they'd put Fate and Alicia through. She calmed herself, however, and instead of doing something drastic, she took the offending items on the desk and slammed them into the garbage can. It definitely startled everyone in the classroom but they dared not say anything, especially after she glared at her classmates. She'd barely sat down when the twins entered the classroom. Her heart skipped a beat seeing her blonde crush walk to her seat like she'd done every morning since school began. It didn't get old watching her and Nanoha thought it never would.

"_I'll do it today."_

In all those weeks since they became classmates, Nanoha had yet to utter a word to the blonde. So far, the only thing she'd done was admired the girl from afar or as Hayate called it stalking. Nanoha didn't quite believe she'd descended to such a level but her brunette friend begged to differ. Nanoha had also taken to ignoring a lot of Hayate's comments, especially if they had nothing to do with helping her talk to the blonde beauty sitting in front of her. She took a deep breath. This was it. She was finally going to talk to her. She was finally going to make her acknowledge her existence.

"G-good morning Fate-chan."

She saw the blonde tense, like she was waiting for something more to happen. Nanoha grew nervous as the silence stretched. Was she going to be ignored like on the first day she tried asking her to join Hayate and herself for lunch? She noticed Alicia was looking at her oddly. This only caused her anxiety to rise.

Fate turned in her seat to get a better look at the girl behind her. She hadn't bothered to look twice at the girl since their little run in on the first day of school. Not like she wanted to anyway. She preferred not to encourage her stalker in anyway, yet she found herself turning to look at the girl. She had no idea why. It was like she did it on instinct. The two stared at each other for what seemed liked hours. The bells rang breaking them out of their trance. Fate was tempted to turn back around without saying anything, but she remembered what Lindy said that morning. Was there really any harm to giving this girl a chance? It's not like she had to worry about her safety around her. She looked harmless enough.

"Good morning Takamachi-san."

Fate turned back around, saying no more. Nanoha's eyes widened in shock. The blonde had spoken back to her. She actually spoke! And that voice! That quiet yet clearly powerful husky voice. It was exactly like she'd dreamed it was. She wanted to hear more. Curse the fact class had begun.

Alicia looked confused at Nanoha's clearly joyful reaction to Fate saying a simple good morning to her. She still did not understand why this girl was so…desperate to get close to her sister. It made no sense, especially now that no one wanted to associate themselves with them. This prompted her to looked at the girl who sat behind her. Yagami Hayate grinned at Alicia and waved at her. Alicia didn't greet back and instead began taking her things out to take notes. Hayate was almost as odd as Nanoha. She was probably even odder now that she thought about it. Still, these two girls were the only one's that bothered to treat them normally.

"_Why? For what purpose?"_

This whole socializing thing was more difficult than she thought it would be. It's why she and Fate hated being around people. Their actions were always so confusing. Acting on emotions rather than logic. She didn't think she'd ever understand how that worked. Alicia shook her head. Now was not the time to be dwelling on the finer aspects of human interaction. She had class to worry about. Regardless of the difficulties they were having with their peers, it was more important to graduate from this school with flying colors. Nothing would make Lindy prouder and she did not want to be the one to disappoint her adoptive mother.

**-SafeandSound-**

Lindy walked down the empty hall leading to the interrogation room. Her team had scrambled and every available agent was working security detail for this interrogation. Well, it was less of an interrogation really and more of a confession. At least she hoped it was. This was one of the reasons they'd kept Precia alive so far. They needed to get the whole story behind what Precia did. Lindy was more interested in the why she did what she did. What drove to do that to her daughters? What was the purpose?

"Ma'am. Everything is ready for you."

"Well done Vice-kun. Now tell me, what prompted her to ask for me?"

"It was really odd. She asked for the date. Then she said she wanted to speak with you and only you."

"Hmm, this could be a trick."

"It's what we thought as well. Maybe today has some sort of significance?"

"Still, we can't be too careful."

"Don't worry Lindy-san. Everything in the room is bugged and cameras are placed in vital points. We have a team observing through the two-way mirror and the team inside of course. If anything is out of place, we'll take care of it."

"Good."

They reached the door. Vice and Lindy nodded to each other before the older woman opened the door and stepped into the room. The room was dark for the most part. This was done on purpose so that Precia wouldn't be able to see the four-armed guards in black that stood in each corner of the room. The only viable light was from a hanging light bulb in the middle of the room, right under the table she and Precia would be sitting at. The other woman was already there, looking as if she wasn't in a straight jacket and bound to the chair. Not once had this woman complained about her treatment or said much of anything.

"Testarossa."

"Harlaown."

Lindy sat down, staring at the woman across from her.

"You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes." Precia smiled, although it looked more arrogant than anything else. "How are my daughter's doing Harlaown-san."

"They're fine."

Lindy was not about to give any information to Precia about the twins. If she did, she felt like she'd be giving Precia a place in their lives again. She was not about to do that. Precia had lost that right a long time ago.

"Ah."

Silence. Lindy was growing impatient but didn't show it. She couldn't show any kind of weakness in front of her. Precia may seem harmless in her state but looks were always deceiving. After all, she wasn't just a trainer; she was once an accomplished assassin herself although she'd fallen off the map years ago. Obviously it was due to the fact that she was busy "raising" kids.

"Do you know what's so special about today, Harlaown-san?"

"I do not."

Precia smirked. "My girls began their training today. It was the proudest moment of my life."

Lindy did everything in her power not to try to choke the woman in front of her. There were still a lot of things they hadn't found out about Alicia and Fate, like their date of births for one. Precia had kept plenty of paperwork, but most of it was about jobs the girls would go on. No birth certificate of any kind was ever found for the twins. Even now, they still didn't know and so Lindy had chosen to give them a birthday on her own. January 21st was the day they were rescued, a day signifying the birth of their new lives.

"I think I'm done for today." Precia announced.

Two guards from the corners came into the light and prepared Precia for her trip back to her holding cell. As they blindfolded her so she would see the layout of the headquarters, her eyes caught Lindy's.

"Tell my girls I said hi, Lindy-san." She said with a smirk

The blindfold fell into place. The guards hauled her up and led her out of the room. Lindy didn't know what to think of this meeting. It made no sense. Nothing important was shared, at least nothing that her superiors could use. She stood up and made her way out as well. She'd just have to be patient until Precia wanted to open up again. This may have been brief and it seemed useless but it was a good sign. She was willing to open up, even if it was only to her. She just wished she could get rid of the uneasy feeling she had about the whole thing.

**-SafeandSound-**

"Eat lunch with me, I mean us!"

Fate blinked twice at the girl blocking her exit. She had all the intent to leave with Alicia, like she always did, and have a quiet lunch outside. Then just as she was about to leave, Nanoha had spread her arms across the door, and shouted that in her face. Quiet frankly, she didn't know what to make of it. She looked around her classroom to see that everyone had more or less gathered at the door since Nanoha was blocking the only exit out. Her classmates were keeping a safe distance away from her and Alicia though. Turning back to Nanoha, she regarded her options. She could decline and move on or accept and have to deal with not just Nanoha but Hayate as well. The two girls were odd enough as individuals, but she couldn't imagine how she'd be able to handle them together. She was about to reject her offer when someone else decided to voice their discontent at having their lunch time delayed.

"Move out of the way Takamachi!"

Arisa Bannings stepped a little closer to the twins so that Nanoha would be able to see who was yelling at her.

"Listen freak, I don't care if you're dumb enough to want to be friends with the murderers but the rest of us want to get out of here for lunch."

Alicia was extremely tempted to say something back not for her sake but for that of the girl trying to befriend her sister. She and Fate had been putting up with their stupid little pranks and acts of "bullying" with no complaints mainly because if they retaliated in any way it'd somehow lead to them being dangerous and unfit to attend the school. Now that not only her adoptive mothers name was on the line but that of Shiro Takamachi's as well, she felt more inclined to watch her actions at school. This girl though, was pushing her luck because Fate looked like she wanted to murder the girl for what she had said to Nanoha.

"Don't call them that!" Nanoha growled. "You don't have a right to do say things like that when you don't know anything about them!"

"Are you seriously that stupid? What's there to know?" Arisa shrugged. "It's what assassins do right? No mystery that they're just a bunch of heartless murderers. They have no right to walk among us."

Fate was about to seriously punch the girl in the face, not for what she said about her and Alicia. As sad as it sounded, she was use to it by now and to some degree she agreed with what Arisa said. It was what they did. For all intents and purposes they were murders, but she couldn't let go of the insults that the blonde was throwing at Nanoha. Out of everyone in the school, the auburn haired girl did not deserve to be degraded like that. Just as Fate was about to step closer to the girl and teach her a thing or two, she felt Alicia pull her to her side. That's when she saw strands of auburn hair flow past the corner of her eyes.

Smack!

The blonde twins could barely believe what had happened. Nanoha had actually slapped Arisa across the face. Fate gained a new respect for her stalker. To think she believed the girl was harmless. Maybe she should watch her back around the auburn haired girl.

Nanoha glared at the girl before her. Never in her life had she felt so mad, scratch that, so blindingly furious at the hurtful words that were coming from her classmate. This anger though had been building up from having to watch as day after day the twins were treated like they were less than people. She'd had enough.

"You shouldn't judge someone so quickly when all you do is go by second hand accounts. Alicia-chan and Fate-chan have never done anything to any of you for the things you've done to them. If they're the horrible murderers you make them out to be then why are you all still alive? Don't you think they'd just get rid of you if they wanted instead of putting up with all of this? But they haven't, have they? They've proven to me that they're more human than the rest of you. To me, the real monsters here are all of you."

Nanoha turned away from her gobsmacked classmates. With more confidence than she'd ever had, she took one of Fate's hands and tugged her out the door. Alicia followed suit along with Hayate, who'd been strangely silent through the whole thing. The two walked in silence behind Fate, who kept looking between her and Nanoha's joined hands like a confused puppy, and Nanoha who looked like she was the happiest person on earth.

"She's quite amazing isn't she?" Hayate asked out of the blue.

"I suppose she is."

Hayate grinned. "I wouldn't have believed it myself, but she really is an amazing girl."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'll tell you if you promise not to tell Fate, at least not yet. I think she'd be more scared of Nanoha is she knew."

Alicia contemplated the offer. Whatever it was, maybe it would help explain things about the girl's odd behavior.

"Alright then, you have my word."

Hayate nodded in acknowledgement before beginning.

"Nanoha's had dreams about Fate since she was 9."

"What?"

"Yeah I know. Very weird."

"Not possible." Alicia stated firmly. "Dreams are nothing more than a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur during the stages of sleep."

"It's what I thought too, but how can it be just a dream when she knew her name before they even met?"

"Impossible."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. Want to know why Fate-chan was so freaked out after their initial meeting? It's because Nanoha called her by her name."

That solved that mystery. No wonder Fate was so scared of this girl. Just hearing that Nanoha might have known about them before they met was making **her **uneasy.

"I can't believe this without further proof." Alicia stated firmly. The impossibility of it was just staggering. Her mind couldn't wrap around it.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and dream."

"Dream?"

"Yup! I didn't believe her at first either, but not too long after we met…I started having similar dreams as her. Maybe you and Fate will begin to have them as well."

Alicia looked at her skeptically. This had to be the most illogical thing she'd ever heard of. As if dreams could tell you anything. Hayate grinned as she linked arms with Alicia.

"Don't look so serious Alicia-chan! It doesn't matter what these dreams mean. I want to get to know you as you are now."

Alicia felt odd to have someone that wasn't her sister be so close to her. She found it even more odd that it wasn't an uncomfortable thing.

Back in the classroom, Arisa and the rest of her classmates were getting over the shock of what had just happened. The blond turned to their pink haired teacher who was busy reading a newspaper.

"Yagami-sensei!" Arisa yelled.

"Yes?"

"Did you see what Takamachi did!"

Signum carefully folded her paper on her desk and gathered her own things to go to lunch.

"I'm afraid I was too busy reading my paper."

"She hit me!"

"Ah, well perhaps next time you shouldn't be so insulting to the daughter of the man who they call the Black Devil. Enjoy your lunch little monsters."

For the second time that day, the class was left with their jaws on the ground.

**-SafeandSound-**

Lindy waited patiently for her daughters to exit the school. It had been a rather odd day over all, but she was just happy to be able to go home and be a mother again. Her eyes spotted the two blonde girls in the distance.

"Now what do we have here…"

A smile formed on her lips. Fate and Alicia were walking with Nanoha Takamachi and Hayate Yagami. Alicia seemed to be having some sort of debate with Hayate while Nanoha seemed to be trying to get Fate to say more than a few words to her. Seeing Lindy's car, the twins said their good byes to their classmates before walking to Lindy's car. The cyan haired woman resisted the urge to say anything until they began moving.

"So…did anything interesting happen?"

"Fate's stalker slapped a girl for bad mouthing us." Alicia commented off handedly.

Lindy giggled. That sounded like something a Takamachi would do. Always fair and just but if you crossed them you'd better watch out.

"You don't say. Anything else I should know about?"

Alicia and Fate looked at each other like they were trying to figure something out.

"I think they have become our friends." Alicia answered unsure.

"Really?" Lindy looked at Fate through her rear view mirror. "I though you didn't need any friends?"

Fate crossed her arms over her chest. Lindy could've sworn she had pouted for just a second.

"I'm giving them a trial run." Fate answered.

Trial run or not, Lindy was just glad that there was someone willing to go through the trouble to get to know the twins better. That by itself was worth more than any riches in the world.

**AN: **I'm stopping there for now. I hope you all enjoyed and as always, reviews are welcomed and appreciated. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5

**AN**: It's been awhile hasn't it? After the horror of losing my previous computer, I finally got a new one. Thanks to this I can get back to writing. I'm sure all of you are very happy to hear that. It does suck that I lost most of the new material I had typed up for my stories so these new chapters are definitely different from what I had intended. Well there is no helping it.

Now moving on to some reviewer responses:

**Hyuuga-Sword**: I haven't really decided if the dreams are going to be anything more than simple dreams of the past. For now they will be just that though.

**Sammie-chan80**: For both those reasons. I think they warrant enough shock for that. I know I'd have my mouth hanging open.

**Tuchiyasa**: Yuuno will probably appear in the story but I doubt I'll make his role be too big. Background character maybe, but that's it.

**Yukiyuuki**: Suzuka's at the school already. She'll get a dramatic introduction though just like everyone else.

I think that's it for now. Oh and before I forget, I know nothing about guns or knives or anything having to do with weapons. I've been to a shooting range once and I couldn't even tell you what kind of guns I shot. Still, I tried my best for this chapter. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything.

Safe and Sound

_A young blonde girl ran through a meadows with a bundle of flowers in her arms. It was a rare day that her mother was not at work and the older woman had brought her to do her favorite thing: pick flowers._ _With the current bundle in her tiny arms, she intended to make a crown for herself and her mother. Nothing made her happier than sharing simple moments such as this. A smile broke out on her face upon seeing the older woman sitting atop the hill overlooking the meadow she was in._

"_Alicia, where have you been?"_

"_Picking flowers for Mama!"_

_Precia smiled. "Don't wander off too far. I wouldn't know what to if I ever lost you."_

_Alicia smiled up at her mother._

"_Don't worry Mama, Alicia will never leave you!"_

_**-SafeandSound-**_

_Alicia was sitting at home by herself. She'd become accustomed to such things. She understood that her mother had a very important job to do, but that didn't mean she had to like it. It seemed like recently, she'd be left at home on her own more and more often. The little blonde girl moved from the living room to a big bay window located in their kitchen. She made herself comfortable on one of the many pillows that adorned the window. She looked out towards the direction of her mothers work. It was a building that was hard to miss; tall, white with imposing looking walls, keeping out any unwanted guests. Her mother had told her that today would be the last day she'd have to work on her current assignment. After that, they'd be free to take a long trip somewhere._

_The blonde girl though didn't care about taking any sort of trip. As long as she was with her mother, she was happy. Her thoughts were interrupted when a sudden glow began to cover the city. Curiously, she pressed her hands to the window. The glow was coming from her mother's building. Was this what she'd been working on? If so, then the she'd done an amazing job making the city look pretty._

_The glow began to get brighter. Suddenly everything was engulfed in a blinding white light._

**-SafeandSound-**

Fate woke up with a start. Her breathing was so shallow and rapid that she thought she might be having a panic attack. Then again, she'd never had one before so she couldn't be sure. Throwing the covers off her bed, the blonde walked to her bathroom. She splashed cold water on her face, trying to sort out what she'd just experienced. Why had she been dreaming of her sister as a child? Furthermore, why was everything so different? Where was she? They were sisters yet she didn't see any evidence of her **existing** there. That inevitably led her to think about the woman that had been in her dream. Her mother. She'd seemed to be so kind, loving in the way Lindy was with them now. It was wrong though. The woman she knew was anything but kind or loving to them. For as long as they'd been alive, she'd never told them that she loved them or was proud in anyway shape or form. They were merely tools to be used for whatever purpose she had intended for them.

"Fate?"

Alicia snapped Fate out of her thoughts. Her older sister cautiously opened the bathroom door from her side of the bathroom. Lindy had renovated the home like this just for them. Their rooms were connected via the bathroom so that, if they ever wished, they had easy access to one another. When they first moved in, the two never left each other's side. They did **everything **together. The concept of doing things separately was so foreign to them that when Lindy first showed them their separate rooms, they only stared oddly at her before asking why they needed to be apart.

After asking, Lindy discovered that Alicia and Fate had never been separated when living with Precia. They had a room that they shared at all times and were with each other 24/7. Lindy theorized this was probably done so their mother could keep an eye on them. Precia had raised very deadly assassins. Individually they were lethal, but together they were nearly invincible even for Precia herself to handle. For this reason, she instilled in them the need to be together when at their base in order to protect not just themselves, but her as well. Of course she had not known this prior to the raid on their base, but she'd thanked her lucky stars for separating the girls from their mother during that time. Thanks to this, Precia was unable to issue any orders forcing the girls to go on the defensive.

It took a lot of getting use to for the twins to become comfortable sleeping in separate rooms. For the most part, they'd managed to become more independent, but every now and then they'd sneak into each other's rooms for comfort.

Fate quickly tried to regain her composure although she had a feeling Alicia might have already seen through her act.

"I'm fine."

The older twin stood next to her sister as Fate stared at her reflection.

"You know you've been saying that a lot lately. So much, it's led me to believe that not everything is as fine as you say."

Fate couldn't help but smirk at that. She'd been right. Alicia was as sharp as ever seeing through her weak façade, but she wasn't about to give up the act so easily. She really hated making her sister worry. The fact that they now worried about each other was odd in a sense as well. Precia may have made them dependent on each other, but that didn't mean the girls ever grasped the concept of caring for one another. In the field, they were merely soldiers. If one of them were to fall, the other would carry on as if nothing had happened. It was simple as that. It didn't seem so simple now though. Lindy helped them learn what it meant to care for family, for your own flesh and blood. Fate was sure that if Alicia were to ever be killed, she'd lose her herself to the darkness. Alicia would more than likely follow the same path were she to ever lose her twin. All these new feelings made everything more complicated.

"What makes you think that?"

"Perhaps it's because we're twins?"

"I thought you didn't believe in such things." Fate chuckled.

Alicia took Fate's hands into her own. The younger blonde looked curiously at her sister.

"I thought I didn't either, but it seems life has been trying to prove my reasoning wrong at every turn."

Fate cocked her head in confusion.

"I don't understand."

"Your dream… was it of a child that looked like me?"

Fate's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Because I've just experienced the same dream as you."

"That can't be possible."

"But it was my dear sister. It's as Yagami-san predicted, the dreams are beginning."

Fate tightened her hold on her sister's hands. What was going on? That feeling of fear was returning to her. She'd been feeling that far too often for her liking. She didn't like to think she'd somehow begun going soft but she had. Lindy called it progress but Fate sometimes felt like she was making herself more vulnerable, weaker, by allowing these feelings to take hold.

"What do you know that I don't?"

"I was told not to tell you so soon, but since you've had the dream as well, I think you deserve to know."

Fate waited with baited breath at what her sister was about to tell her.

"These dreams have something to do with Takamachi-san."

"What?"

"I know, odd isn't it? I didn't want to believe it either but it seems like it's true. Yagami-san told me that Takamachi-san called out your name on the first day of school, that's what had you scared right?"

The younger blonde could do nothing but nod, recalling that memory wasn't very pleasant. It'd been the first time anyone had made her feel that way and the girl hadn't even threatened her life. Fate had a feeling she was better prepared to deal with someone trying to kill her than interacting with Takamachi Nanoha.

"Yagami-san revealed that it was through these dreams that she knew who you were. She'd known of you sine she was nine."

Alicia stopped and allowed Fate to absorb this information. It was a lot to take in really. A complete stranger having dreams about you? It was more than a little creepy and Nanoha's stalker status seemed to be more appropriate than ever.

"What does this mean? " Fate whispered, lost as to what to do next.

"That I do not know, but perhaps we'll find out if we ask Takamachi-san. She seems to be at the heart of everything after all."

Fate didn't look convinced but nodded in agreement. It's not like they had much to go on anyway. Still, she hoped she was freaking out for nothing. Takamachi Nanoha may have become her trial friend, but she was still skeptical about letting the girl into her life. These odd occurrences were not helping her case either.

"Good, then let's get some rest while we can. We still have school tomorrow." Alicia coaxed Fate to move towards her room before turning to walk to her own.

"Umm, Alicia?"

The older blonde halted and turned back to look at her sister. It was rare for Fate to look so vulnerable. Moments like these though were reserved for when they were in each other's presence only. No one had seen them in such a state, not even Lindy. It wasn't that they didn't trust the woman, she'd done so much for them, but they weren't ready to show anyone else their weaknesses. They still needed to be wary around everyone they came into contact with. They may have been taken out of the life of assassins, but that didn't mean the Assassin's Guild lost track of them. They were constantly being watched. The assassin's never lost track of one of their own. It was the only way to make sure that ex assassins and current ones didn't break any rules set up by the guild. Not to mention the branch of RF6 was keeping them in constant surveillance as well. It was big brother working at its finest.

"Yes?" Alicia asked, although she had a feeling she knew what her younger sister was going to ask.

"Can I sleep with you?"

Alicia smiled and took her younger sisters hand. Lindy always told her that as the oldest, she had to be strong for her younger sister. If she ever felt she needed support though, Lindy always made herself available for the two of them. The two made their way into Alicia's room. Fate had so many questions running through her mind as she climbed into bed. Why were these dreams occurring? There had to be an explanation. There was always a logical explanation for things in the universe, yet dreams didn't exactly fall into the realm of logic. Fate's tired mind eventually lulled her into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams replaying the scene with the little blonde girl looking out into the window filled with a bright explosion.

**-SafeandSound-**

"Alright everyone pair up!"

Their gym teacher, Yagami Zafira, blew his whistle in order to get everyone's attention. Today they were beginning the Bodyguard Examinations, something Alicia and Fate had been looking forward to since they saw it on the curriculum. During their gym session thus far, they'd been given easy things to do like jogging, various sports, and other miscellaneous activities. Today though, they'd be able to test out how they fared against other wannabe bodyguards. They were sure that their level of training would be unmatched since most of the kids who were enrolled to be bodyguards had only had the most basic training so far. It wasn't until they were tested that it would be decided where their training should begin. If they were lucky enough, they'd be mentored by one of the bigger corporations, like Shiro's bodyguard company.

Looking around the gym, she already spotted the man along with a few people she didn't recognize. Probably his associates there to help him spot some good talent. Lindy was also present for this event. It wasn't uncommon for government officials to come to the testing event. It was a good chance for them to find potential field agents for their different branches. Lindy caught sight of Fate looking in her direction and waved enthusiastically at her. Slightly embarrassed that she'd been caught staring, she waved back awkwardly. Lindy seemed happy enough with her response so she went back to concentrating on the task at hand.

Fate and Alicia immediately claimed each other as partners. Not like anyone else would want to be paired up with them anyway. Besides, there was no better team than them at the school. She almost felt sorry for whoever they would pit against them in the sparring matches.

"Fate-chan!" A rather enthusiastic auburn haired girl bound over to the blondes.

"_Well, almost no one wants to be our partners."_ She thought exasperated. How could she have forgotten about Nanoha and Hayate, especially considering Nanoha use to be her stalker although it could be debated whether or not stalker was still a more appropriate thing to describe her as.

"W-would you like to be my partner?"

"Uh, I don't think we can be paired up."

"Eh? Is it because Hayate is always my partner? Alicia-san! You can have Hayate!"

As if to emphasize her point, she practically shoved Hayate into the unsuspecting girl's arms. Hayate didn't seem to mind though. In fact, she looked rather comfortable. The brunette tightened her hold around Alicia's waist in a hug.

"Nanoha is so cruel to me! Comfort me Alicia-chan!"

Knowing that her mother was watching, Alicia resisted the urge to rip the girl off her person. A blush suddenly covered her face when Hayate's grabby hands touched her butt. Not caring whether her mother would approve of her next move or not, she quickly launching Hayate towards the nearest wall.

"Where were you grabbing!" Alicia yelled at the brunette who, surprisingly, did not hit the wall like Alicia had intended. Instead, she gracefully twisted in the air and landed on her feet. It would have been a perfect landing if she hadn't suddenly lost her balance and landed on her butt. For a second there Alicia had actually been impressed with the brunette's show of skill.

"Oww, oww,oww!" Hayate whined as she slowly stood back up. "Mou, you didn't need to be so rough with me, I prefer a more gentle touch." Hayate made some suggestive eyebrow movements.

Then, to the shock of all their classmates, and their mother, Alicia flushed red. The blush was even more prominent thanks to her pale complexion. Even Hayate seemed speechless for a moment.

"Let's go Fate." Alicia growled as she walked away from her classmates. Fate looked between Alicia and Hayate before following after her unusually flustered sister. She figured it would be a good idea to try to calm down the clearly angry blonde. Nanoha watched helplessly as her crush walked further away from her in order to make sure her twin didn't suddenly change her mind about possibly keeping Hayate alive.

"Hayate, you make a terrible wingman."

"Don't you mean wingwoman?" Nanoha gave her a blank stare. Hayate chuckled nervously. "Haha, kidding. I was kidding."

"You and your perverted ways are going to get you in trouble one of these days. Now you've gone and made Alicia-chan angry. She'll never approve of Fate and me if I keep hanging around you." Nanoha glared menacingly at her soon to be ex-best friend. Hayate got the message right away. She never would have pegged Nanoha to be the scary intimidating type since she was usually a very happy go lucky person. The brunette however had come to discover a much darker side to the auburn haired girl. It was fitting considering who her father was. She wouldn't be surprised if all the Takamachi's had a more sinister side.

"I-I'm sorry, okay? I-It won't happen again."

"Good!" Nanoha's happy personality returned. "Make sure to apologize to her later okay?"

"O-okay." At this point, Hayate was just trying to keep herself from being targeted by Nanoha's other personality. At some point she'd like to give this other side of her a name since she felt like referring it to as "the other Nanoha" lacked any sort of imagination. She probably shouldn't so concerned as she was to finding a name for her friends other personality, but her mind was easily distracted.

"Anyway, you wouldn't have been able to pair up with Fate-chan even if Alicia-chan agreed to switch."

"Eh? Why not?"

"Because this is the Bodyguard Exams." Nanoha continued to look at her confused. Sighing, Hayate continued. "It means that those in class 1-A through 1-C that are here to be bodyguards are the ones taking this exam. People like us, who are here to **be** protected, are going to sit on the sidelines and watch."

"Oh. I didn't know that was today."

"Well you would've known had you been paying attention to the teacher when he announced it at the beginning of class."

"Nyahaha, I guess I was distracted."

Hayate shook her head. Nanoha was **always** distracted when Fate was within viewing distance. Tugging the girl along, she and Nanoha took a seat reserved for the students that would not be participating in the exam. They were soon joined by the other students from class 1-A and 1-B.

"I see you continue to have no sense of self preservation, Hayate-chan."

The brunette turned to the source of the voice.

"Verossa-kun!"

Hayate jumped up and gave the green haired boy a hug.

"How have you been?"

Verossa chuckled. "I've been well although you really should stop putting yourself in so much danger."

"Who? Me? I'd never do such a thing."

"So you say, but why do you think that Graham-sama felt the need to surround you with your personal body guards in the school?"

"Wait, so our teachers are really related to you?" Nanoha asked surprised.

It had been something that everyone wondered about the Yagami's that were at the school. Their homeroom teacher, Signum, had yet to confirm any relation to the brunette and no one was going to press their stern teacher. Then there was their gym teacher, Yagami Zafira. Much like Signum, the students were too intimidated by him to bring themselves to ask. The easiest to approach was the nurse, Yagami Shamal, who had shocked everyone by revealing that she was actually **married** to Signum. Again, Signum did not confirm or deny her claim and no one was about to force one out of her. The final two Yagami's were Vita and Reinforce. The two girls were in class 1-D but with the two girl's rather fierce looks, it was hard to approach them for anything. It was a rather strange trait they all shared, with the exception of Shamal. The mystery of their actual relation would continue to elude the student body for now.

"Ah, and who is this Hayate-chan?" Verossa said noticing Nanoha for the first time.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I forgot my manners. This is my best friend, Takamachi Nanoha."

"Takamachi? You wouldn't happen to be related to Shiro-san would you?"

Nanoha nodded with a smile. "Yes, he is my father."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Takamachi-san."

"Please just Nanoha. It's far too formal for a friend of Hayate's to call me that."

"Very well and please feel free to call me Verossa, Nanoha-chan."

The two shook hands before continuing on their topic of conversation. Fate watched the boy interact with Nanoha from afar. She felt it odd that she suddenly had the urge to stab him with one, two, or maybe **all** her knives. A whistle broke her out of her homicidal thoughts.

"Those of you taking the exam please proceed to the locker rooms and change into your uniforms."

Tearing her eyes away from the sight, Fate followed Alicia into the locker rooms. She suddenly couldn't wait to get to the sparring portion of the exam. She needed someone to punch.

Hayate smirked having noticed Fate's killing aura towards Verossa. Perhaps Nanoha's crush wasn't as one sided as she thought. Then again, she doubted Fate knew what she was feeling towards the girl anyway. If her dreams were anything to go by, then it was only a matter of time when Fate would be able to return Nanoha's feelings. She closed her eyes momentarily and pictured her latest dream. She'd been walking towards a home. One she wasn't familiar with but in her dream, she knew she'd been there countless times. The door was opened by a much older version of Fate. Upon entering the home, she spotted Nanoha in the kitchen making dinner for her family. Then a little girl, possibly around the age of ten, came bounding down the stairs. They were the perfect family.

Opening her eyes, she looked back towards Fate as she disappeared into the locker room. An emotionally inept ex-assassin and a bipolar devil of a girl… they were made for one another.

**-SafeandSound-**

Alicia and Fate picked a locker and opened it up. In it contained the clothes they'd need for their exam. A standard issue black form fitting shirt, loose grey cargo pants to allow them more maneuverability, and black combat boots. The two quickly began to change.

"So, you two are the rumored assassins in the school."

The two girls tensed. They turned towards the girl standing behind them; they wiped away any emotions from their faces. They were not about to let this girl see how off guard she'd caught them.

"Hi, my name's Tsukimura Suzuka. I look forward to seeing what you guys can do."

Suzuka walked away before Alicia or Fate could form a response.

"She snuck up on us." Fate frowned.

"She erased any sense of her presence. Tsukimura… I think she's part of that ninja clan."

Fate slammed her locker shut. "A ninja? Well that should make things interesting."

Alicia smirked. "I agree. Ninja's are, after all, the original assassins."

The twins finished up their preparations and walked back out into the gym. Suzuka watched the two from her locker.

"Are you sure you want to fight them?" her partner questioned.

"You sound worried Carim-chan. Do you doubt my skills?"

Closing her locker, Carim smiled at Suzuka.

"I think you're underestimating theirs."

"I don't know about that. They tried to hide it, but they definitely were surprised that I managed to sneak up on them. I think they've lost their touch."

"Perhaps, but is it necessary to antagonize them?."

"Don't worry so much. Just get them riled up. If they try to do anything they will be stopped by the full force of the school guards. We've got nothing to fear."

**-SafeandSound-**

"Freshman, welcome to the annual Bodyguard Examinations." Zafira boomed. "We hold this exam every year to see where you should be placed for your training of your profession. Many of you aspire to work for the government as field agents or in the private sector as bodyguards. In our audience are highly influential members of these sectors so be sure to show us your best. The exam is divided into two sections, the first tests weapon proficiency. Here you will be tested on your knowledge of weapon use and accuracy. The second portion is combat. I think this part is self-explanatory but for the sake of our audience I will explain. Here we will test your skills in hand to hand combat and you're ability to work with another team member. For this reason you needed to choose a partner. No weapons will be allowed. Should the fights become life threatening we will step in and stop the match. Are we ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Very well. Pick a station to begin in, for the weapons test. It matters not where you go."

Fate and Alicia looked around at each of the stations set up around the gym. Fate's eyes were immediately drawn to the stationed near the far end of the gym. It had a variety of throws stars and knifes. Meanwhile, Alicia was more interested in the table with all the variety of guns. The two nodded before heading separate ways to their areas of specialty. They were told to impress everyone with their skills and they certainly did not want to disappoint, especially with their mother in the audience.

"Good luck Fate-chan!"

"I'm rooting for you Alicia-chan!"

The two blondes froze in their steps and stiffly turned to look at Nanoha and Hayate. Suddenly all the attention was on them. It was hard to miss the looks they were being given by the less than happy people. Ignoring the looks they turned to go back towards their destinations. Now was not the time for them to be getting distracted by petty things. Clearing their minds of anything useless, the girls prepared to show everyone why they were the best of the best.

Lindy watched on in amusement as her daughters were thrown off kilter by their two trial friends.

"Ma'am?"

Lindy turned to Vice who'd been one of her agents to accompany her to the event.

"Yes?"

"Do you think what she said is true?"

Lindy frowned thinking about the latest meeting she'd had with Precia.

**-SafeandSound-**

_Lindy walked down a familiar hall. Precia had requested to speak with her again. She wished she could feel enthusiastic, but if this talk was going to proceed like the last one, then there was little to be excited about. Perhaps she'd find out a little more about the girls past. For that alone she was enduring these odd meetings. She waited a few seconds in front of the door before she was given the all clear to enter. Precia was sitting at the table already, just like before. She quickly shut the door behind her and joined the other woman at the table._

"_Testarossa."_

"_Harlaown."_

_The two stared each other down. Precia turned away first looking around the room. Not that there was much to look at. It was just a dark room. _

"_This room could use some redecorating."_

"_I'm afraid we have more pressing things to deal with." Lindy answered._

"_Of course you do. Tracking down the Assassin's Guild is no easy task."_

_Lindy said nothing. She didn't want to give away that that was indeed one of the purposes of her team._

"_Come now, let's be honest with each other. That is how you found out about my girls right?"_

"_Why have you called me here today?"_

_Precia smiled. She knew Lindy was trying to divert the conversation. She'd allow it this time since she'd have another chance to talk to the woman later. There would be plenty of chances to get information out of her._

"_Straight to business, I like that. You know I find the serious type rather attractive."_

_Lindy's eyebrow twitched in aggravation. The fact that someone was flirting with her had thrown her off a bit, but she wasn't use to a __**woman**__ making passes at her. Sensing that Lindy wasn't going to respond to her shameless flirting, Precia decided to continue._

"_Raising children is difficult is it not?"_

_The cyan haired agent wanted to tell Precia that her idea of raising children was not the same as a normal person, but it would be beneficial to her to just go along with her line of questioning._

"_It is."_

"_I'm sure you agree it's even more difficult as a single parent correct?"_

"_Yes."_

_Precia smiled. "As you can imagine, raising my two girls was never a simple task. I knew I could not do it alone. It takes a village, but I didn't need a village just one person who I could trust. That is where the girl's second teacher comes into play."_

_A second person helped train the twins? There had never been any other evidence that anyone but Precia played a part in training the girls. Her mind raced as to why she was being told this. Assuming it was true, then that meant this other person was out there, roaming free, able to seek out the twins. Precia smirked as she saw the realization dawn on the agents face._

"_That's right. She's out there, keeping an eye on them for me."_

"_Why hasn't she attempted to contact them this entire time? She probably knows you've been captured right?"_

"_Yes, she probably has known of my capture since the day it happened, but it's not the right time."_

"_The right time for what?"_

"_I guess you'll have to wait and see."_

_That infuriating smile was in place again. Seeing as Precia was saying no more, she gave the signal for the guards to remove the woman from the room._

**-SafeandSound-**

"I don't know, but we can't rule out any possibility. I would inform Zest-san of the possibility of a woman trying to infiltrate the school, but we have no description to go on. It would do little good to worry them over something we're still not sure of. All we can do is keep a closer eye on the school."

"Right."

"For now, let's not worry about it. We need to concentrate on the fine assortment of talent we have gathered here ne?"

Vice nodded. "I think other young hopefuls will find it hard to measure up to your girls."

Their attention was directed towards Fate and Alicia. They were each waiting their turn to show their skills in their areas of expertise.

Alicia was practically giddy to finally get her chance to shoot a gun. Much to her disappointment, Lindy hadn't given her permission to keep a gun with her. She'd felt it was rather unfair that Fate was allowed to keep her knives when she couldn't even keep a simple glock. She stepped up to the mini shooting range. Off to her side, there was a wall with a variety of shotguns, hand guns, revolvers, semi-automatics and many others. She was impressed with the type of artillery they were being allowed to handle.

"My, what a wonderful selection they gave us."

Alicia glanced from the corner of her eye. It was another blonde girl. She smiled towards Alicia.

"It seems we'll be shooting together. My name is Gracia Carim and you are?"

Alicia doubted that the girl didn't know who she was. The entire school knew her name; however, she was being cordial enough to ask for her name instead of just calling her names like her other classmates did.

"Harlaown Alicia."

The girl smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet another gun enthusiast."

With that, Carim grabbed a Heckler & Koch MP7 from the rack and proceeded to the shooting range along with some ammo. There were two ways to test your shooting skills. The first, and the easiest in Alicia's opinion, was the stationary targets. They were placed in various lengths away from the shooting point. The second was shooting clay disks that were launched from random point in the room. That would be the ones that Alicia would most enjoy and it was the hardest to do depending on which setting you chose. Carim walked calmly to the shooting station.

"Name?" the teacher at the station asked.

"Gracia Carim."

The teacher nodded.

"Which would you like to perform?"

"Clay disks."

"Very well. When you are ready give us the signal."

Carim nodded. Before she gave the signal, she set the gun on a nearby table and quickly changed the mode of the gun. Alicia was impressed that the girl knew that particular gun had more than one setting. She obviously wasn't some newbie who chose it because it looked cool. Satisfied, Carim got into position.

"Pull 2!"

A clay disk came flying from the right side of the room and another launched from the left. Carim shot them down not even seconds after they were launched. It was impressive that she was able to line up her shots so quickly.

"Pull 3!"

Again, she shot them down with no problem. There was a little bit of lag time between shots but Alicia predicted that would happen when needing to line up more than 2 shots. What she wanted to see though, was if the girl was able to shoot down more than 3 without missing one.

"Pull 5!"

Alicia was not disappointed with the girl's performance. She shot down each and every clay disk before they hit the ground. Carim, smiled proudly at her work. She handed her gun over to the teacher before moving away from the station towards the other students who had finished. She cast one look back towards Alicia. No words were exchanged but Alicia understood the silent challenge. Smirking she turned back to the wall of weapons. She wasn't one to usually show off, but for this, she was going to show everyone exactly how to be a badass gun wielder. She set her eyes on a pair of Nickel M1911A1 pistols. Those would do nicely.

She grabbed the guns and the mags necessary for her little demonstration.

"_I have 10 shots in each one. Hmm…"_

Looking around the shooting range, she spotted the 20 machines stationed all around the area.

"_I think I can pull this off."_

She placed her 4 mags on the nearby table in a neat little row. The other two she inserted into her pistols. Taking her spot she looked towards the teacher.

"Name."

"Harlaown Alicia."

"Which would you like to perform?"

"Clay disks."

"Alright, give the signal when you're ready."

Alicia took a deep breath.

"Pull 20!"

The teacher halted; stunned at the request she was given.

"W-what?"

"Pull 20!" Alicia repeated.

The teacher still looked skeptical but launched the disks without further delay. Alicia wasted no time in emptying the mags. Much to the shock of every one she didn't miss a single one. The moment she ran out of bullets she ejected the empty mags.

"Pull 20!" she yelled again. She quickly slammed the gun over her remaining mags on the table and lined up her shots.

"_Good, the delay time between setting the machines for the correct number of disks and their launch was as I predicted."_

Again, she flawlessly took out every disk.

"Pull 20!" with her last round of shots, she was almost caught off guard with a few that rolled across the floor but she quickly took care of those before taking out the flying ones. The gym was deadly quiet. Alicia twirled the guns in her hand before handing them off to the stunned teacher. She was acutely aware of all the stares she was getting. She walked by Carim who seemed to be just as shocked as everyone else.

"That's how you shoot a gun." Alicia spoke before taking a seat away from the rest of the students.

It was so quiet a pin could be heard being dropped.

"WOW!" Hayate jumped up from her seat and began clapping wildly. "That was amazing Alicia-chan! You're amazing!"

It wasn't long before Nanoha and Carim joined in a more subdued clap. Suddenly, the rest of the gym clapped along with them. Alicia was surprised. She thought for sure she was too feared and hated for her skills to be appreciated. She glanced over at Lindy who looked proudly at her. Alicia was filled with an unexplained warmth seeing that look directed at her.

Fate smirked at her sister from the other side of the gym. Her sister was amazing as always. Turning to her station, she was determined not to be out done by her. Knifes may not be as loud and showy as guns but there was a deadly beauty to them. It took more than just aiming to accurately throw one. If you didn't know the proper balance of the knife you were throwing, you'd miss your target by a mile. She tested each knife set, trying to find one she deemed proper for throwing. She frowned as each knife set she tested felt unbalanced. At first she thought it was rather unprofessional of the school to provide them with such low quality knifes, but then she realized this was part of the test. If they couldn't properly check the knives for the correct balance then they obviously would need more training.

"A knife person huh? Then again, I shouldn't be surprised considering your upbringing."

Fate froze. The girl from the locker room had snuck up on her again. Silently cursing herself for letting her guard down, she turned to face the girl.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"Not particularly, after all, we were both trained in the art of killing right?"

Fate didn't know whether to agree or not. It's true that ninjas and assassins were similar and even though all ninjas were considered assassins; not all assassins could be called ninjas. Fate believed this was probably due to the fact that assassins held no loyalties what so ever. Pay them enough and they would kill whoever they were asked of. Ninjas on the other hand did not do business in such a way. They were loyal to the lord they served and did not commit assassinations unless it was agreed upon by the clan.

"You know, I don't believe I caught your name in the locker room."

Fate paused before answering. "Harlaown Fate."

"Nice to meet you. Well I think I should get my exam over with."

Suzuka walked straight to the throwing stars. She tested each and every one before picking the set she wanted to use. She stepped up to the spot where the test would begin.

"Name."

"Tsukimura Suzuka."

"Begin when you're ready."

Unlike the shooting range, the moving targets they had were rigged to tracks and some were swinging from the ceiling. Their movements were predictable, but even that didn't guarantee you'd hit the targets. All it took was a slightly unbalanced knife to completely mess up your throw. Suzuka smiled serenely as she took her throwing stars and hit target after target. She didn't even bother with the stationary targets. Fate didn't miss the challenging look she was being given. She felt her blood boil, not from anger, but from excitement. She quickly picked the knife set with the best balance and joined Suzuka at the station. Fate didn't even wait for the teacher to ask for her name.

"Harlaown Fate."

She then grabbed her knives, placing them in between her fingers. Suzuka copied her and both of them quickly launched their choice of weapons at the poor unsuspecting targets. Their classmates watched in awe as the glints of metal zoomed across the throwing range faster than their eyes could see. Finally, both of the girls ran out of knifes. Suzuka smirked at her rival.

"You kept up with me. Not bad."

She began to walk away from the station but stopped when she realized Fate was not following her, she turned back around at the blonde. Fate smirked at her. She held up one last knife in her hand and then suddenly tossed it behind her as she walked away. The knife zoomed through the air until it hit solidly against a figure up high on one of the windows.

"You missed one." Fate said as she strolled casually past the purple haired ninja. Suzuka's eyes widened. She couldn't believe she missed the sniper-like figure at the farthest part of the throwing range. Maybe the blondes weren't as rusty as she believed they were.

"Fate-chan, you're so cool!" Nanoha yelled at the top of her lungs. Hayate joined in the cheering.

Fate did her best not to blush but she wasn't use to being praised. She looked at her mother who was smiling proudly. Fate let a small smile form before wiping it from her face. She hoped no one else caught it. She didn't know it but Lindy did catch the slight upturn in her lips. It was the first time she'd seen her openly smile. That made her prouder of her girls than their demonstrations. Lindy, however, wasn't the only one who caught the smile. Nanoha, who paid attention to **everything** Fate did, was in a daze. She'd never seen something so beautiful in her life.

"_Fate-chan should smile more…"_

The rest of the demonstrations were rather lack luster after the demonstration Alicia, Fate, Suzuka, and Carim had given. Finally Zafira stood in the middle of the gym where mats had been placed. This would be the spot they would hold the sparing matches.

"Alright, the teams have been randomly selected in the following matches. When you're names are called, step up to the mats. You'll begin when I blow my whistle."

Alicia and Fate kept an eye on Carim and Suzuka. They were hoping that they'd end up going against the two girls. They were the first to bring out any sense of competitiveness in them and they were glad the two girls had proven them wrong about everyone being inferior to them.

"Gracia Carim and Suzuka Tsukimura you'll be facing Harlaown Alicia and Fate."

The twins barely registered anything around them as the adrenaline began to pump through their veins. The two teams faced one another, measuring each other up.

"Don't go easy on them!" Arisa suddenly stood up and yelled. "Take them down Suzuka!"

Nanoha glared at her classmate. How dare she? Didn't she learn her lesson the first time? She was not about to let Fate fight without any support.

"You're much better than them Fate-chan!"

Arisa growled loud enough for Nanoha to hear but that didn't scare the auburn haired girl and she growled right back. Soon, the gym was filled with shouts of support, mainly for Suzuka and Carim.

"Well I think I better cheer for my new friends. Sorry, but I hope your sister loses." Hayate said to Verossa.

"I won't hold it against you." Verossa smiled.

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the whistle. No one wanted to miss a second of this match up.

**AN:** Phew, not bad for my return chapter. Alright, I trust you guys know the drill by now. Thank you for reading. Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** Somehow I managed to pry myself away from Skyrim so that I could type this up. I swear that game has taken over my life recently. The fact that I no longer work two jobs is partly to blame. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. I'm a one job kind of girl now so with this extra free time you would think I'd dedicate it to writing, but when I realized I had this game and hadn't touched it for months…well I'm completely hooked on it now. Still, I decided I needed to get this out before I let it go for too long without an update.

Now for the fighting scenes I'm once again winging it. I love action movies and I love movies that have awesome fighting scenes. This enthusiasm for it though doesn't transfer as well to writing. I did my best and I'm still not very happy with it, but we all have to start somewhere. So apologies ahead of time if it's not as great as you thought it would be.

Now to answer some reviews:

**BonesxBreak**- I'm glad my lack of knowledge on weapons wasn't as noticeable as I thought. Like I'd said before, I've gone shooting once and that was the only time I've learned anything about guns. The most I deal with knives wise is when I need to cut vegetables or handling a pocket knife. Thank god for the internet though. You can research just about anything.

**Bardiche**- You know, I've recently noticed that a lot of people like it when Nanoha goes all into jealous mode and threatens to starlight breaker everyone. It's like she's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Can you imagine a story like that? Oh, better not let my imagination run away with that one…

**Anon**- Fate will be using a katana at some point. She only uses throwing knives at this point because it's more practical for her.

**Yukiyuuki**- Precia's just having a bit a fun while locked up. Can't blame her, there's nothing much to do while your locked up in a super-secret jail.

**Eries326**- I still don't know if Arf will appear in the story. We'll see.

**Honulicious and Tsuchiyasa**- …Yes its Linith. Geez you guys are good at guessing, but I think that one was fairly obvious.

Alright that's it! Enjoy this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Nanoha so you know…don't sue or something.

Safe and Sound

The whistle blew. Carim and Suzuka barely had time to get into a defensive position before Alicia and Fate rushed at them with a set of punches. They hadn't been expecting that, but they were able to quickly recover from this sudden attack. Out of everyone in the school, the two blondes more than likely were the only ones who had actual field experience. If they hadn't attended the school, then Carim and Suzuka could boast that they were one of the few who had some form of combat experience. Granted this was in a controlled environment, but combat was combat. It gave them an edge over everyone else. Their training though had not prepared them for what the twins were doing.

The two didn't even talk or glance each other's way. They just acted. It was almost like they could read each other's minds. That was a very scary thought. If they were able to do something like that then it became that much harder for Suzuka and Carim to take them on. They'd hoped to be able to figure out some way to counter attack by deciphering their pattern of attack through their interaction, but that became impossible when they weren't even interacting. They were in a tough spot for sure but they weren't going to be done in so easily.

Carim carefully blocked each and every one of Alicia's punches. She was waiting for the perfect opportunity to tackle Alicia to the ground. Carim was a lot better at close combat, more specific, she was good at grappling. She was quite confident of her abilities. If she was able to get Alicia in a choke hold she'd be able to take down the girl in one go. It didn't matter how much more training she had, once she was in her grasp, it would be nearly impossible to get out of it. It'd only take a couple of seconds on her part to make the blonde lose consciousness. All she had to do was get in the right position and strike. Then she and Suzuka could concentrate on Fate. Together, they could definitely defeat Fate.

Alicia threw a punch, a straight one towards Carim's head. Carim saw this as her chance to counter. She tilted her head just enough for the punch to slightly graze her. With the two close enough she quickly slipped her leg behind one of Alicia's and kicked it out from under her. Alicia lost her balance allowing Carim to throw the rest of her body weight upon her. Alicia and Carim rolled around the ground, Carim trying to get the blonde assassin into a choke hold while Alicia was doing her best to keep out of it.

Carim knew she only had this one chance to do what she needed. She doubted that Alicia would let her get close enough again to wrestle her to the ground. Alicia slammed Carim against the mat, but the other blonde would not let her get the best of her. She locked her legs around Alicia's waist and held on tight. Alicia threw as much force as she could into her hips, attempting to loosen the hold Carim had around her waist. As Alicia was trying to shake the other blonde off, Carim managed to use Alicia's momentum and rolled her over onto her back with as much force as she could. It knocked the wind out of Alicia, impairing her for a moment. That was all Carim needed in order to slip Alicia's head under her right arm pit. Wrapping the rest of her arm under her neck, Carim then rolled onto her back. With her free arm she quickly took hold of Alicia's other arm before she was able to use it to try attack Carim into releasing her hold.

She inwardly smirked. It would only take a few seconds for Alicia to start to lose consciousness. Victory would be hers!

Just as Carim was celebrating a body suddenly slammed into the two girls.

Suzuka cursed herself as she tried to get her bearings straight. She'd let her temper get the best of her, but how could she not? Fate had been playing around with her since the whistle blew. At first it seemed like they were evenly matched as they traded blow for blow. Suddenly though, Fate backed off. She just stopped attacking and instead stood off to the side. She wasn't even taking a defensive position. She just stood there, arms to her side with a looked that said Suzuka wasn't worth the effort. She'd tried to remain calm and chose to attack with caution.

Even when she was so close to striking her, Fate only used the most minimal movements necessary to dodge an attack. Suzuka could feel her irritation grow with each failed punch, on her part; Fate continued to dodge Suzuka's punches while occasionally swatting away the purple haired girl's fists like they were flies. Suzuka could not understand how she kept missing her mark. Fate had no defense what so ever yet she couldn't land a punch even though it seemed liked she had her on the run and when Fate did counter with her…swatting, for a lack of a better word, it felt like the swats did more to throw her off balance than normal punches.

All of this finally burst any bit of patience she had with her opponent. With a mighty yell, she planted her left leg solidly on the ground as she lifted her right to deliver a kick to Fate's head. That was the exact careless mistake Fate had been waiting for. Effortlessly, she caught Suzuka's kick midair with both her hands. Without stopping the momentum of the kick, Fate grabbed on to her leg with both hands and twisted her body to continue the flow of the kick. With the momentum doubled thanks to the Fate's added movements, Suzuka soon found herself hurling into the air in an unknown direction. It wasn't until her body hit something that she realized her mistake.

Fate had realized that Alicia was in danger the moment she stopped her attacks on Suzuka. Instead of trying to help her directly, she used Suzuka as a weapon to free her sister from Carim's sleeper hold.

With the sudden impact caused by Suzuka's body, Carim lost her hold around Alicia's head. Not wanting to lose this opportunity to escape, Alicia quickly regained dominance in their wresting. Carim though, would not let go of her waist. She still needed to get out of it somehow. Thus Alicia only saw one way to get her to let go. She took hold of Carim's shirt, lifted both of them up slightly and slammed her down against the mats. She continued to do this until she felt Carim's death grip begin to loosen.

"Carim!" Suzuka had regained her bearings enough to see her friend being slammed down on the mat like a rag doll. She wasn't about to just sit there and let her get hurt. She'd quickly stood once again attempted her kick on the other twin. She had no better luck since Alicia was able to flip out of the hold with Carim having lost her grip on the older twin. Alicia joined her sister who stood not too far from their two opponents. Carim and Suzuka felt they were reaching their limit. As Suzuka helped her friend stand, it became painfully obvious that Fate and Alicia had been toying with them the entire time. The twins didn't look the slightest bit winded after the fighting they'd done. Was it really that easy for them?

"I think we're at our limit Suzuka-chan." Carim panted out.

"I guess we really were no match for them." Suzuka chuckled. "I should've listened to you when you told me not to underestimate them"

"Well, even if we're going to lose, I certainly don't want to because I gave up."

"To the bitter end?"

"To the bitter end." Carim confirmed.

The two girls were about to rush at the twins, hoping to catch them off guard with their sudden attack when the gym was suddenly plunged into darkness. The automatic blinds on the windows had been activated and blocked out any bit of sunlight while the lights were all shut off.

"W-what's going on?" a frightened student asked.

"Is this part of the test?"

"I bet those _murderers_ have something to do with it."

The students all began to voice their opinions on the sudden turn of events. There were a few in the auditorium though who knew this wasn't the norm. One of those people was Shiro Takamachi. He'd already taken out a flash light from his brief case along with the two men who accompanied him. Something was definitely wrong. He'd been to more than one of these tests and this was never part of it. Was it an attack? And if so against who? Unfortunately, there were plenty of targets if someone was there for a kidnapping. Any child taken from this school was worth a fortune. Things were not in his favor for sure. Still, he needed to take control of the situation and make sure all the students were kept safe, especially his daughter and Hayate Yagami.

"Shiro-san."

He turned to Lindy who joined him in his scouting. It was certainly his luck that Lindy also happened to be at the exams on this day. They'd need all the man power they could get to make sure this situation doesn't escalate further. Nothing like having the head of a secret government branch there to help out, not that everyone knew who she really was. He was one of the privileged few who were privy to that information. Everyone else thought she was just another government employee.

"We need to secure the area and get those lights back on. We're helpless in the dark." Shiro summed up.

"I know. I'll have one of my men head out and find some help."

"Perfect. Once we secure the area we need to make sure that the Prime Ministers granddaughter is safe from any danger." He hated placing his daughter's safety second to the Prime Minister's granddaughter, but his job called for it. If something were to happen to Hayate while he was around then things wouldn't be good for him or his business.

"Understood. Let's get to work then."

Just as Lindy had said that, Shiro and his employee's flashlights exploded.

"Arg! What was that!" Shiro immediately got into a defensive stance. Lindy joined him as they positioned themselves back to back. It would be hard to fight the enemy in the dark, but that just meant they'd have to use their other senses to discern where they were being attacked from.

"I apologize for the surprise." A voice rang out over the PA system. It was distorted so whoever it was did not want to give them a voice track down later. "We promise no harm will come to anyone, all we ask is you hand over two specific students."

"I will not surrender any students to you." Shiro said confidently. It was ridiculous to think that the kidnappers thought he'd negotiate with them especially if it meant losing two kids on his watch. That would never be acceptable.

"Really now? Not even if it was the twin assassins?"

There was an audible gasp in the gym.

"Absolutely not!" Lindy rang out. "They are not a bargaining chip!"

"Hand them over!" someone yelled.

"Better them than us!" another student agreed.

Lindy felt her heart sink. To think they didn't value her daughter's lives on the same level as their own. Is this what they'd been going through this entire time? She should've pushed harder and found out what they were actually going through at school.

"No!" a voice, much louder than all of those wanting to turn in the twins echoed through the gym. "Fate-chan and Alicia-chan are worth more than that! We should be willing to protect them too!"

"C-calm down Nanoha!" Hayate tried to keep her friend from going on a rampage but it was hard seeing as she couldn't really see in the dark. Still she managed to at least grab a hold of her around the waist, although it seemed to be doing little good. It felt like she was trying to keep a hold on a raging bull that was intent on throwing her off. Nanoha was a lot stronger than she appeared to be.

"I will not calm down! Not until Fate-chan and Alicia-chan are safe with us!

Shiro couldn't help but smile at his daughter's strong sense of justice. Even at a young age, she always felt a certain amount of indignation whenever she'd witness someone on TV suffer from a wrong that been committed to them. She had a very pure heart.

"Very interesting." The voice went silent for a few moments. "I was asking nicely before, but if you are unwilling to cooperate then we shall eliminate student, one at a time until they are released to us."

At that point everyone fell into panic. They all feared for their lives and were even more willing to hand over the twins. Mob hysteria was quickly descending upon the students of TSAB Academy. Hayate began to become a bit fearful of what might happen. She could feel as she was being bumped left and right by her classmates as they tried fumbled helplessly in the dark. Possibly though, they were trying to find what direction the twins were in so they could hand them over. Even Nanoha would not be able to stop them should they actually manage to get their hands on them. Nanoha though, wasn't afraid of having to face down her classmates especially if it meant she could protect Fate.

"It's fine." A strong calm voice cut through the panic.

"Fate?" Lindy asked worried.

"Alicia and I will go with them." She confirmed again. It did nothing to ease Lindy's fear. What were they thinking?

"Y-you can't!" Nanoha wished she could see so that she could run to Fate and keep her from doing something so dangerous. "What if something happens to you!"

"I'll be fine."

"You know for sure!" Nanoha felt like crying. What if she never saw her again? After all, who knew what these kidnappers were planning if they were willing to kill students just to get to them. Whatever it was, she knew it couldn't be good.

"We don't, but if we don't go everyone will be in danger." Alicia spoke next. Her voice maintained the same calm tone as her sisters. It certainly served to calm the panicking students.

"Takamachi Nanoha…" Fate began. "You were willing to place yourself in danger for us, I…if we aren't willing to do the same for you then we're no better than those who would willingly throw us to the wolves."

In one fell swoop, everyone felt silent.

"Take us." Alicia spoke. "But do not harm anyone here. If you break your word, my sister and I cannot promise you'll live to see another day."

"Understood. Take them."

"Fate! Alicia!" Lindy reached out blindly in the dark. She couldn't lose them. Not now. Not when they were finally getting their lives on the right track.

The gym was bathed with light once again. In the middle of wrestling mats stood Suzuka and Carim. There was no sign of Fate or Alicia.

"Secure all exits!" Lindy bellowed. She wasn't going to fall apart. It would not do her or her girls any good if she did. In moments like this, she was glad her training let her push aside her feeling in order to concentrate on the task at hand. "Vice!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Inform Zest of the situation and lock down the school. No one get in or out. Whoever is behind this won't be able to sneeze without me finding out where they are."

"I'm on it!" Vice wasted no time running to the shooting test area in order to grab a gun. He left the gym just as a few of Shiro's assistants set to locking the doors.

"How can I help?" Shiro asked. He was feeling slightly shown up by the other woman. He surely didn't want look like he didn't know what he was doing.

Lindy pulled out a laptop and looked at him. "How good are you at hacking?"

"I've been known to infiltrate a secret government system or two."

"Good. Then help me track down these bastards. They had to have broken into the school in order to take control of the gym..."

Shiro's eyes lit up in realization. "Because the school's systems are on a remote server, they had no choice but to break in in order to connect directly."

TSAB's school system was set up on a remoter server as a precaution against kidnappers trying to get information on their targets. They couldn't get in unless they connected directly in the school which was incredibly hard to do. Each building on campus was monitored and controlled in a secret location on the school grounds. From there they could keep a close watch on every building and make sure that nothing odd was going on, however, if no one had noticed yet that the gym had fallen prey to an attack then it meant that the hackers had somehow manipulated it to make the guards think that all was well. Lindy had a feeling it had something to do with the Assassin's Guild. Why else would they target the twins specifically? If they were regular kidnapers, they wouldn't risk killing such potential targets, but these "kidnappers" had no problem with it. It was also a possibility that they were hired assassins out to kill the girls, but again, they wouldn't put on an elaborate show like this. The Assassin's Guild didn't work like that. Regardless of the money they were paid, they'd never take out one of their own unless there was a valid reason behind the hit.

"Exactly, we need to find the trail they left behind. No matter how good they are, there is always a trail."

"Then let's find the trail of bread crumbs they left." Shiro brought out his own laptop and began assisting Lindy in her search. The perpetrators were somewhere in the school and they were going to find them.

**-SafeandSound-**

Alicia and Fate squinted at the light that bathed on them. After the mysterious leader said for them to be taken, a bag was placed over their heads and their hands bound. They did not resist and allowed themselves lifted into the air. If they had to guess, they were more than likely smuggled out through the ventilation system. It certainly felt like they had anyway. Wherever they were now though, they were sure it was located somewhere on the school's campus. They'd gone down a flight of stairs so it was possible they were in a basement. They couldn't be sure though. Scanning the room, they only spotted one exit. That wasn't good. Their chances of escape were minimized. The room was also bare of any kind of fixtures or furniture preventing them from making any sort of weapons. This wasn't a complete loss though. They'd have to rely on their physical skills alone in this situation, but they were confident of their abilities. It wouldn't be the first time they'd have to use just their hands to get a job done. Depending on how many opponents they would have to face, this could be over quickly or it would take a bit longer.

They couldn't help but find this room very odd. If they were indeed still on campus why was this room so empty? It was a school. They used every space available including basements to store any kind of equipment or supplies for future use. No way would a room just be left like this. If their kidnappers emptied the room just for their use…that seemed like too much effort to put into a room that was being used as a temporary holding cell.

"Well, you girls are as sharp as ever. Already formulating a plan of attack against your kidnappers? You've been taught well."

Alicia and Fate couldn't believe who walked through the door.

"Linith-sensei …"Alicia whispered.

"Come on now, you shouldn't be so shocked. I was going to be paying you a visit sooner or later. As a matter of fact, you are long overdue for one anyway."

"Why like this?" Fate narrowed her eyes at the older woman. "You've made more trouble for us."

"Indeed. We've had enough complications from someone revealing our past. We didn't really need anything like this."

"Oh don't be like that girls. I'm only trying to help."

"How?" they both asked. If anything, their classmates would probably be more reluctant to accept them because of this little fiasco.

"You'll see." She said mysteriously.

"You never change do you Linith-sensei?" Fate sighed.

Without saying anymore, she walked up to the two girls and embraced them. Hesitantly, the twins hugged back.

"I'm truly glad to see you two are doing well. I was worried after you'd been captured that Riot Force 6 would keep you locked up forever."

"Lindy-san wouldn't have allowed that." Fate answered.

"Haha, I didn't give that woman enough credit. If she hadn't done anything I would've gone in and broken you out myself." Linith pulled away from the girls. "Well, let's get this visit done and over with before it gets too late. I want to return you girls to Lindy before she decided to rain down all of RF6's Special Forces on me."

The twins nodded for her to proceed.

"As you know the Guild doesn't like to just let "retired" assassin's go about as they please. Once you join the Guild you join for life. The only way you leave is through death. Do you girls understand this?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Then you also understand that if you are ever called upon by the Guild, you are required to answer the call? If you don't, you shall be considered rogue and a bounty placed on yourselves."

"Understood." Fate answered for the two of them.

"Excellent. Then there is only one more thing I need to make you girls aware of. We have a situation at the Guild right now."

"What kind?" Alicia asked. As far as she'd known, there was never any kind of problem the Guild couldn't handle amongst themselves.

"It involves an ex assassin who'd fallen off the map years ago."

"You actually lost track of someone?" Fate asked in disbelief.

"Yes. About 15 years ago, he fell completely off the radar. All our efforts to track him have completely failed. Recently though, he's made a move. He's killed one of our own."

"What?" Fate said in surprise.

"Who was it?" Alicia asked.

"The Master."

"Impossible!" Alicia said shocked. "No one even knows who the Master is!"

The Guild had a proud line of Masters. Each previous Master selected their successors and never revealed their identities. It was done mainly to keep any sort of coup from taking place. It wouldn't be the first time someone thought that the Guild wasn't being run correctly. Coups had been attempted in the past, but none were ever successful. Yet someone had managed to figure out who the Master was despite all precautions taken.

"How long ago did this happen?" Fate wanted to know what kind of person they were possibly dealing with. Someone who had the ability to kill the Master of the Assassins Guild…this could be a major problem not just for the Guild, but for the general public as well.

"Last night."

"How do we know this person is the Master for sure?" Alicia asked this time. If no one ever knew the true identity of the Master then how were they sure that the body they found was the right person?

"He was found in the headquarters. Our agents took DNA samples to confirm his identity. As you know, those who are chosen as Masters still need to have a file on hand in case something like this happens. We've never thought we'd have to use it, but we opened the vault that keeps records all the previous and current Master's information. Guess whose blood was used to get into the vault?"

That left little room to doubt if the man they found was indeed the Guild Master. The vault that Linith was talking about would only open if the DNA matched the Master's.

"So the Guild has no Master." Alicia stated the simple truth.

Linith sighed. "As far as we can tell we don't for the moment, however, it seems like he may have chosen a successor. We found a file he'd made for the new Master. No other details were in it other than the file number. Everyone should know by now of this event thought so it's only a matter of time before Master number 100 makes his presence known."

The twins doubted that the person who killed the Master hadn't attempted to use the vault as well, but since there was a lack of information on the successor then that was a good then. It meant that the Guild had a chance to recover from this heavy blow.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Fate didn't want anything else to take them by surprise.

"None, but please keep an eye out for anything. We don't know who this person is, but he was capable of killing our Master. That alone speaks of his skill. Until we know for sure what we're really dealing with, please be careful. If anything else comes up though, I'll get in touch with you."

"Make sure next time it's nothing elaborate like this." Alicia added with a frown. She and Fate really didn't need any more attention placed on them. They got enough of it as it was and none of it was good.

"I'll be more subtle about it next time and if you guys need to get a hold of me…well you know how to get in touch with the Guild if you need anything. You're always welcome with us. Now let's get you back to Lindy shall we?"

The girls nodded.

"I hope you'll forgive me for what I'm about to do…"

"Huh?"

They had no moment to react as the room began to fill with gas. They weren't sure how she managed it, but Linith had somehow acquired a gas mask.

"L-Linith…!" Fate felt her eyes lids grow heavy.

"Sorry girls, but I'm doing you a favor with this. You'll see when you wake up."

Alicia and Fate let their eyes close as they fell into a heavy slumber. Linith waited for a few more minutes for the gas to subside. She proceeded to take off her gas mask and looked at the slumbering girls with a warm smile.

"I can only hope I've prepared you enough for what's about to come."

The door opened behind her revealing her two accomplices.

"Linith-san, we need to hurry and return them. They've already tracked us down to our dummy location." A man with various scars on his face walked in.

"Then we better get going. Voltz-san would you and Lat-san please take them to the location we discussed?"

"Of course." Voltz answered.

The two men proceeded to pick up the twins and walk out of the room.

"I hope Lindy won't be too mad that I gassed them before giving them back."

**-SafeandSound-**

"Please sit down Nanoha." Hayate whined to the auburn haired girl. She'd been pacing back and forth with worry for the last fifteen minutes. "All we can do is wait for Lindy-san and your dad to find them."

"I know but I don't know what else to do! If I sit down I'll just start fidgeting and end up pacing anyway. I can't help wondering if they're hurt…I'm scared for them."

Hayate understood what her friend was feeling. She'd been keeping a much calmer front, but inside she was also scared for the twin's safety. No matter how many times she'd reminded herself that they were probably use to dealing with dangerous situations such as this, it did nothing to make her feel better about the situation.

"I wish I could go out there and look for them." Nanoha lamented.

"It's too dangerous to do something like that." Carim said as she walked over to them. "These people are professionals. If anyone is going to stand a chance against people like that it'll be them. Have some faith."

"How can you be sure?" Nanoha asked.

Suzuka chuckled as she came to stand next to Carim.

"Take it from the girls who they beat down. They know what they're doing far more than the rest of us. They'll come back in one piece."

"Thank you." Nanoha smiled at the two. She was going to say more to them but she noticed her dad had stood up rather abruptly. He seemed to be talking to someone over the phone. Lindy had also stood and was already making her way to the gun racks in order to pick out a hand gun. Vice, who'd returned after informing Zest of the situation, was also picking a few more weapons. Something must've happened. If they were getting ready to head out, then it meant that they finally found the twins.

Nanoha quickly walked over to her father who had just hung up the phone.

"Daddy?"

"Sorry sweety. I don't have time to talk."

"Did you find them?"

Shiro paused for a moment.

"Yes. We're going after them now." He then fixed her with a pointed stare. "And no you can't come along."

She slightly cursed her father's for predicting what she'd wanted to ask. She'd hoped to somehow sweet talk him into letting her go with him, but there was no way that was happening now.

"I promise I'll let you know as soon as we find them, but do not leave this gym for whatever reason. Understand?"

"Yes, daddy…"

"Good."

He said no more and found a gun for himself. Lindy, Vice and Shiro quickly made their way out. Hayate joined Nanoha as they watched them leave the gym. She took the auburn haired girls hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. All they could do was hope and pray that everyone would be okay.

Lindy, Vice and Shiro were running as fast as they could, weapons drawn, to the building that housed the art department. After all the tracking they did, they managed to pin point the intruder's location to that building. Lindy had been glad that her hunch paid off. They were still on campus so that made recovering her daughters much easier. At least as easy as it could possibly be when facing off against assassin's from the Guild. Lindy had just happened to glance towards the gazebo that sat in the middle of the school when she thought she saw a head of blonde hair.

"Wait!" she directed to her two companions.

"What is it?" Shiro glanced around; thinking she may have spotted the enemy.

"Over there. Follow me."

The two quickly took after Lindy. Whatever she'd spotted, it must've been important enough to halt their journey to the art building.

"Oh my god… Alicia! Fate!"

The two girls were lying unconscious in the gazebo. Lindy holstered her gun and quickly set to checking on them. All thoughts of going after the kidnappers went out of her head. Her first and foremost concern was the well-being of her daughters.

"Lindy." Shiro quickly got her attention. "Vice and I will go ahead, you stay here with the girls. We'll let you know if we find anything."

"Thank you."

The two men continued on to the building. Lindy took a seat between the two girls, looking at them like it was the first time she'd ever seen them. She held back her tears as she gently stroked both of their heads. She'd checked their pulses and they were beating steady. There appeared to be no visible injuries on them and other than them being unconscious, they seemed perfectly fine.

"I'm so glad you're both okay."

"Lindy-san!"

Lindy looked up to see Signum and Shamal, along with a few more guards running towards her. Shamal wasted no time in performing a check up on the two unconscious girls. It wasn't long before two gurneys arrived at the scene. Lindy helped them place the twins onto them so that they could be taken to the infirmary. Shamal wanted to perform more tests to be sure that they really were okay.

"How are they looking doctor?"

"They seem perfectly fine. No injuries of any sort. Although it does seem they were drugged before being dumped in the gazebo."

"Drugged?" Lindy did not like what she was hearing.

Shamal smiled reassuringly. "It seems to be a mild drug sedative, but I wouldn't worry. I can perform more tests, but let me assure you that no harm has come to them."

"Thank god. Now, I just hope that Shiro and Vice were able to catch the ones responsible for this."

"If it's those two, then I'm sure they'd have caught them by now." Signum said from her spot at the door. She was helping work security detail for them. Everyone else was busy keeping all the other students safe. Lindy felt the phone in her pocket buzz. She quickly pulled it out and answered.

"Shiro-san, I hope we have good news."

"_I'm afraid it's not. There is no one is the building. We've searched it up and down but no sign that anyone's been in or out since the lockdown took place."_

"Damn it. It must have been a dummy." Lindy sighed. It was frustrating that the perpetrators managed to get away even after all the work they did. "At least the girls were returned safely. We might be able to find out the identities of whoever took them once they come to."

"_Understood. We'll begin unlocking the school. I think it would do the students good if they could return to their normal school day."_

Lindy hung up. She really didn't want to leave the girls behind but she needed to talk to Zest and Shiro about everything that just happened. Not to mention file a report with her superiors. She wished she could just pawn off that work onto someone else…like Vice but she knew in her heart she couldn't do that to her employee.

"If there's any change in their condition, please let me know." She said as she stood up.

"We'll keep them safe. I promise." Shamal smiled.

"Thank you."

With that, she left so she could do her job.

**-SafeandSound-**

Nanoha and Hayate ran out of the gym the moment Shiro opened the doors for everyone. Shiro had let them know that the twins were sent to the infirmary after they were found. The moment the words infirmary fell from Shiro's lips, Nanoha took off running. Fear gripped her heart. Had the worst happened? Her mind began to wander to the nightmares she'd had about Fate; of her dying in her arms during that terrible battle. Was this a repeat of that?

"Fate-chan!" She screamed in anguish as she burst through the door of the infirmary.

Signum and Shamal were startled for a moment. They hadn't actually thought the twins would be getting any visitors anytime soon.

"Calm down Takamachi-san." Shamal place a reassuring hand on Nanoha's shoulder. "They are fine. Just sleeping."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes, they should be up in a few hours."

"T-thank god." Nanoha collapsed. Her adrenaline had been pumping none stop since she ran from the gym, but now it all fizzled out.

"Nanoha!" Hayate finally caught up to the auburn haired girl. She breathed heavily as she leaned against the door. That took a lot out of her. She didn't think she was that out of shape but apparently she was wrong. That or there was more to Nanoha than she thought. "Crap…ha…I can't breathe…"

"Hayate-chan, you pushed yourself too hard." Signum carefully picked up her young charge and placed her on the separate bed. "Breathe slowly. You'll be okay."

"Thanks."

Hayate sighed and listened to Signum's advice. Knowing that the girls were more than likely not going anywhere Shamal gave Nanoha a chair to which she quickly placed next to Fate's bedside and promptly planted herself next to the blonde. Hayate couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's behavior. Nanoha was more than likely not going to leave the blonde side until she was forced to. She then looked over at the bed next to her. Alicia looked incredibly different without that constant mask of indifference she always wore. Feeling like she could breathe again, she got up and acquired chair for herself as well. If Nanoha was odd then she was too because she felt like she shouldn't leave Alicia's side no matter what. Reaching out, she slowly took the unconscious girls hands.

"Glad you're back, Alicia-chan."

**AN:** There you are. Chapter 6 is done! The girls are okay and things are going down at the Assassin's Guild. What will happen next? Well you'll need to wait for the next chapter to find out. Reviews, comments…these are always appreciated. Till next time!


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** After a long wait I finally updated this story. About time really. I don't know what took me so long since it only took me a day to write this all out. Now a lot of people have been guessing that Jail is the person who killed the Guild Master…..well, I have no comment. I can't answer that question! It gives things away! But what I can tell you is that everyone gets a bit of NanoFate fluff this chapter. I know you've all wanted some of that. Now I'd like to thank the following people for being awesome and leaving me a review:

**Trumm12345, mauie0810, priest1drago, Master of all Perverts, orangesora, yukiyuuki, Yo-kun, ZonaRose, eries326, AyahDiamon, bardiche, Mayvarik, Fate T. Harlaown, Aka Chibi-chan, fatetestarossa19, Sammie0chan89, GrygrFlzr, Hyuuga-Sword, Hero of Anime, Kinki, Lance58, Spikesagitta, Parme-san, Honulicious, and Tsuchiyasa**

You guys are great! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Safe and Sound

_Fate was flying through the air with grace and speed that she could only attribute to birds. A part of her wondered how she was able to pull off such a stunt, but another told her she'd been doing it all her life. Why question it? Pink beams rained from the sky as her own yellow ones flew towards her opponent. Fate knew she couldn't keep this kind of assault for much longer. The longer the fight was dragged out, the higher her chance of losing would become. There was only one choice to end this fight: she had to use her strongest attack._

_But why?_

_What reason did she have to be so desperate to win against this girl? Fate shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking about such useless thoughts. She needed to win. She bound her opponent before gathering all her power. Her muscles protested against all the magic that concentrated around her. Fate though, held on and unleashed her magic in a show of power and precision. Her yellow beam collided with her rival. She was unable to see if the auburn haired girl she fought was still standing due to the cloud of dust that formed around the girl who'd taken her attack head on. As it began to clear however, she realized it hadn't been enough. She took whatever little magic she had left from her last attack and threw it at her opponent just as the other girl shot a beam of pink at her. Fate's attack however, was ineffective as it was swallowed by the incoming attack. Fate got a sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn't have a chance to dodge when the beam of pink collided into the shield she threw up at the last second._

_She was going to endure this attack. If the other girl could take her attack at full power then she could handle this as well. The seconds passed by painfully slow. For a split second, Fate though her shield would give out on her, but somehow she was able to hang on. Her victory though, was short lived._

"_See if you can take this variation on my Divine Buster…."_

_[Starlight Breaker]_

_Everything in Fate went cold. This girl had just used what seemed like her strongest attack, but now she revealed that not only did she have something much more powerful, but that she still had the magic to use it. Shaking the fear away, she was about to prepare her counter attack but found that she couldn't move._

"_A bind?!"_

"_This is my ultimate strength…." Fate turned to look at the girl who addressed her. "It's everything I've got! Starlight Breaker!"_

_She felt nothing as she was knocked from the sky and into the ocean. She'd lost. Failed. She failed her mother. How could she face her after this? As she kept sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean, she wondered if this was it for her._

_As if answering her question, she felt her body being lifted from the ocean. Her eyes fluttered open to see who it was that saved her._

"_Are you alright, Fate-chan?"_

"Nanoha?"

"Fate-chan!"

"Nanoha-chan, you really shouldn't yell in here."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm just so happy…."

Fate groaned from all the loud voices. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was talking to Linith before gas filled the room.

"Give her a chance to gain her bearings before you jump her."

Fate recognized the voice of Hayate. Had they been the ones that found them? No that was unlikely. She couldn't see her mother or Shiro allowing the girls to help them in their search. That would have been dangerous and stupid on their part and Fate knew that her mother and Shiro were neither of those.

"I wasn't going to jump her…."

"Right…."

The blonde's eyes slowly fluttered open. The ceiling was unfamiliar to her but the familiar smell of anesthetics clued her in on where she possibly was.

"Am I….in the nurse's office?"

"Yes, Lindy-san found you and Alicia-chan passed out in the schools gazebo and you were brought here." Nanoha supplied helpfully.

"Where is Alicia?"

"She's here as well." Nanoha moved slightly out of Fate's line of vision to give the blonde a better look at the bed that sat beside hers.

Fate rolled onto her side and caught a glimpse of her sister in the next bed. A sigh of relief left her lips. They were both alright. They survived the ordeal without any one getting hurt. She just wished their reputations hadn't suffered even more because of this incident. In fact, it wouldn't surprise her if the students feared them even more. It would be a miracle if they were allowed to stay in the school after all this.

"Are you feeling okay Fate-chan?"

The blonde glanced at the auburn haired girl. The dream she'd had flashed in her mind. Why had Nanoha been in her dream and why had they been fighting? As these questions ran through her mind, she continued to stare at Nanoha more intensely causing the girl to begin to fidget in her seat. Who knew Fate's stare was so powerful?

"I-Is there something wrong?"

Fate snapped out of her thoughts. She hadn't even realized she'd zoned out. That issue really had to be addressed. She couldn't keep getting distracted by Nanoha like that. The fact that she was so easily distracted by the girl bothered her. She'd been trained to the point that outside influences like people wouldn't distract her from her duties. Losing your focus at any time in the life she once lived could mean the difference between life and death. She'd only been out of the assassin life for a short time, but she was finding that her rigorous training was quickly begin compromised. She still didn't know how she felt about her new vulnerabilities. It was something she'd have to ponder later. Right now, she had to get ready for what was about to come.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I can call Shamal-sensei if you need something."

Fate shook her head. She figured it was more important to inform Nanoha what was about to happen so that she wouldn't freak out too badly.

"I need to tell you something." She looked at Hayate. "You should listen as well."

Both girls nodded for Fate to continue.

"Once Alicia wakes up, we will more than likely be taken in custody."

"What!" Nanoha exclaimed. Fate took note that Hayate didn't seem all that shocked. She wouldn't be surprised if Hayate knew of the protocol that was in place for retired assassins who were visited by the Guild. She wouldn't be surprised if the brunette knew what Lindy actually did for the government either. She wasn't the Prime Minister's granddaughter for nothing.

"Why would they take you away! You haven't done anything wrong!" Nanoha threw herself on Fate, wrapping her arms around the blonde girl's stomach. "It's not fair! Because of you, we all got out of there okay so why?"

Not sure what to do in this kind of situation, she turned to Hayate for some sort of help. The brunette smiled and did a patting motion, hoping Fate would get the message. Tentatively, the blonde reached out and placed her hand on Nanoha's head. She had no idea why, but there was a sudden fluttering in her chest. Slowly, she patted Nanoha's head, hoping that it was giving her some sort of comfort.

"I know it sounds bad, but this is standard protocol for any ex-assassins who are contacted by the Guild. Nothing bad will happen. They just want to ask us some questions."

Nanoha lifted her face to look into Fate's eyes. Fate felt bad that she caused the girl to cry, although she wasn't sure why she felt bad about it.

"Really?"

Fate nodded, but she wasn't sure herself what would happen once Riot Force 6 took her and Alicia into custody. Depending on how much they liked the answers they gave, they may not be allowed to return to their "normal" lives. This may be the last time she'd get to see Nanoha. That though alone caused her feel a new emotion: sadness. How was Nanoha able to do these kinds of things to her? Her thoughts were cut short when Alicia began to stir in her bed.

Alicia sat up groggily looking around the room. Her eyes landed on her sister and the odd position she was in.

"We're in the infirmary." She stated simply.

Fate nudged Nanoha so that the auburn haired girl would allow her to sit up. Nanoha complied with Fate's silent request.

"Yes. We should be prepared to be taken."

"Ah, yes. They'll want to know about our little meeting."

Fate nodded. Alicia stretched causing some bones to pop.

"Should we tell anyone you're awake?" Hayate asked her.

Alicia hadn't noticed the brunette was by her bedside. She wondered why. She'd thought, seeing as she was Nanoha's friend that she'd be sitting beside her instead of at her bedside. Hayate only smiled at her as Alicia finished popping her back.

"Are you that eager to be rid of me?"

"Maybe it's you whose eager to get away from me." Hayate responded playfully.

It'd become a bit of a habit that she and Alicia would banter back and forth like this. Hayate wasn't at all surprised that the older blonde caught on to how banter worked and had all but mastered the trade. Granted though, she didn't banter with just anyone. It seemed like it was something that was reserved for her alone. It made her feel special. Who wouldn't feel like that with this girl? After all, she paid almost no one else any attention if they weren't her sister.

"Touché." Alicia smirked. "However, it would be best to let everyone know we're awake."

"Agreed." Fate said as she also stretched her muscles. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can come back."

Nanoha looked worriedly at the blonde. She really didn't want to call on anyone, but it would do her no good to delay the inevitable.

"Alright. I'll let Shamal-sensei know you guys have woken up."

Fate smiled. "Thank you for understanding."

Nanoha was sure that her heart was about to burst from her chest. Fate actually smiled at her. Her. It was truly a beautiful smile. Fate should definitely do it more often. It didn't take long after Nanoha had called Shamal that Lindy and some other men in suits came into the room. Much to her and Hayate's displeasure, they were not allowed to stay in the room while the twins were being addressed. They were forced to wait outside until the door was opened. Lindy walked out first with a furious look on her face. Behind her followed on of the two men in black then walked out Alicia in handcuffs. Fate followed closely behind her. The other man in black was the last to leave the room. Nanoha wanted to go to the blonde. She wanted to hug her and let her know it would be okay, but Hayate held her arm.

"We don't want to cause a scene do we?"

She hated to admit it, but it was true. She wouldn't be doing the twins any good if she tried to interfere. The only thing she and Hayate could do was watch as the twins were lead down the hallway and out of the school. Nanoha's hands clenched. It wasn't fair at all. The things that happened had been completely out of their control. They hadn't asked to be contacted by the guild. They certainly hadn't asked for their entire school to be plunged into chaos. They'd been trying to just live day by day like normal teenagers. Granted they still weren't very normal, but they were getting there. Slowly, but surely, they were starting to seem less like emotionless assassins and more like teenage girls.

Hayate took one of Nanoha's hands into hers.

"It's going to be okay Nanoha. You'll see."

"I hope so Hayate." Nanoha looked out towards the window. The suns bright rays made the day seem a lot more cheerful than it should be.

"_Come back soon."_

**-SafeandSound-**

Alicia sat, in what she considered a very familiar setting. It was a dark room with only a hanging light illuminating the space she was in. The chair she sat in was the only furniture in the room. Her hands were still bound as were her feet. She shifted in her seat a bit causing the chains to rattle. She was far too use to being in places like this. It was both a good and bad thing. Good because it meant she was familiar with the interrogation process which meant she was prepared for whatever they would throw at her. Bad because it meant she'd been in an interrogation room far more than should be deemed good. It couldn't be helped though. It was one of the things they'd been subjected to constantly during their imprisonment.

It was rare that assassins were actually captured while they were still in service to the Guild. Riot Force 6 hadn't had any luck getting information out of the ones they did manage to capture and finding assassins that were retired was difficult. The ones that they had been lucky enough to capture never talked and after the first few actually killed themselves in order to keep the Guilds secrets, the government stopped trying to torture answers out of them. Not only was it counterproductive, but they were losing valuable connects to the Guild. This was one of the many reasons that Fate, Alicia, and even Precia had been treated as mere prisoners. Very highly guarded prisoners, but it was better than being subjected to torture. Then again, they probably also had Lindy to thank for their good treatment. She highly doubted the government would call off torturing if there was a slight chance it would work once.

Sighing, she wondered how long this would take. It was odd, but she missed her home. She missed Lindy and, as much as she hated to admit it, she missed going to school. That last one caught her by surprise. Alicia never thought she'd actually miss going to that place. Lately though, it wasn't so bad. When she'd first realized that school wasn't a terrible place to be it'd shocked her. She and Fate never thought much of the people around them mainly because they treated them like they were lower than garbage, therefore, she and her twin didn't see a reason to give those around them the time of day. Better to ignore their existences than give them the satisfaction of thinking they were actually hurting them somehow. It was a ridiculous notion that anything they did would actually affect them. The kids they went to school with were merely that, children. They had no idea how the real world worked and who'd had everything handed to them on a silver platter. They knew nothing outside their own little bubbles. Alicia and Fate wanted nothing to do with people like that. There was no point to associating with those kinds of people when there was no benefit to gain from that kind of relationship.

Yet, she and Fate had allowed Nanoha and Hayate into their little world, but why? What did she have to gain from this supposed friendship they'd established? Alicia had admitted to herself that Hayate was one of the smartest people she'd met. She was observant, cunning, and fearless. It wouldn't surprise her if one day Hayate attainted the title of Prime Minister just like her adoptive grandfather. Yet not many people gave her credit for what she was actually capable of. Perhaps it was jealously that blinded everyone. She'd done research on the girl after they'd first met and she could see why their peers sometimes looked at her like she didn't belong with the rest of them.

Hayate had lost her parents when she was five. Her oldest cousin, Signum who'd also suffered the loss of her own parents a year before that was left with the task of raising not only Hayate, but her own sister Vita. Then, Hayate was adopted by Gil Graham. It caused a major stir in the political world. Many thought he did it in order to gain a more favorable light in the eyes of his constituents. Alicia wasn't sure herself of the reason why he chose Hayate specifically, but whatever the case was, Gil Graham eventually won the seat of Prime Minister. Hayate did not live with him, but instead had her own home in which she lived with her little family. Alicia tried to find out more information on those that bared the last name of Yagami, but she found that it was difficult to find anything further on them. Not surprising since their information would be classified now that they were related to someone so important. All she knew for sure was that Signum and Vita were her cousins by blood. She didn't doubt that Shamal was actually married into the family, but Reinforce and Zafira were a complete mystery to her. She didn't think they were actually blood relatives, but perhaps adopted into the family as well. Why? She didn't know.

Alicia shook her head. Why was she suddenly so interested in Hayate life? It was certainly uncharacteristic of her to take so much interest in someone to this extent.

Her thoughts were cut short when the door opened revealing shadowy figures. Alicia inwardly smirked. This was day 4 of their interrogations. Their questions hadn't changed. What did you talk about? How did they get into the school? Who were the assassins that broke in?

Obviously she couldn't tell them everything that happened. She told them the bare minimum of details about the conversation she had with Linith. She did not reveal who it was she spoke to. Only that she and Fate were being warned by the Guild, threatened even. That was it. She said nothing more about what happened in that room much to the frustrations of those interrogating her.

Alicia mentally sighed, wondering if she would ever be allowed to return home or if the higher powers would decide to keep her a prisoner like they'd wanted to from the very beginning.

**-SafeandSound-**

Nanoha looked forlornly at the seat in front of her. It'd been days since Fate and Alicia were taken away. She'd asked her father every day whether there was any new news on them but every time he'd shake his head. Nanoha didn't know what to think. Had that been the last time she'd see Fate? It was far too sad to think of it that way. Instead, she'd tell herself every day that Fate and Alicia would be back the next day. There was always a possibility they'd be back the next day. She had to stay positive. If she lost hope then perhaps she'd never see Fate again. Kicking her bad thoughts out of her mind, she concentrated on the lesson at hand.

They were half way through their first class of the day. For once, Nanoha had been paying attention to what Signum was saying. Up to this point, Hayate had been giving her notes she'd taken and explaining anything she didn't understand. The brunette never scolded her for not paying attention and merely smiled every time Nanoha would thank her for being such a big help. Hayate would always wave her off. It really wasn't that big of a deal. She was just glad that Nanoha had the good sense to not neglect her studies.

Nanoha sighed as she watched Signum write another formula on the board. She tried her best to pay attention, but her eyes began to wander around the classroom. Things had changed since that fateful day. It was hardly noticeable at first. Nanoha began to hear whispers about the twin's alleged arrest immediately after they'd been taken away. Most of the things she heard did not surprise her, but that didn't mean she wasn't angry about it. The great majority of the student body thought that the twins deserved to be arrested and hoped that they never came back. Others thought that this was all part of some evil plan orchestrated by them. It was all ridiculous in Nanoha's opinion. Nothing that had happened was the twins fault. They'd been caught off guard just as they all had, but she knew it was nearly impossible to change everyone's minds.

Then the day before, she noticed something strange. She and Hayate walked into their classroom and stopped dead in their tracks. The desks that their classmates had moved to be further away from the twins were back in their normal spots. Arisa, who sat to Fate's left, looked at them before blushing and turning away. Nanoha smiled for the first time since the twins had been taken away. She'd walked over to Arisa and thanked her but the blonde only stuttered and glared.

"I-I didn't do it because I like them! I just think it's stupid that we though moving the desks further away would make a difference!" she then looked to the rest of her classmates who'd been looking at her oddly. "And it's stupid to think they did anything wrong when they were the ones to put themselves in danger for us!"

Even now she couldn't help but smile at the memory. Arisa could actually be a very kind person. After that, she'd begun hearing little whispers here and there about how brave it was of them to give themselves up not knowing if they'd come back alive. The majority still blamed the blondes, but Nanoha found that the minority that'd begun to see the twins in a different light were a lot more vocal about their opinions that those who didn't. She hadn't realized she'd been a major voice in this group until Carim and Suzuka pointed it out.

That was another good thing that came out of this. Fate and Alicia had earned the respect of Carim and Suzuka, both who were from very prominent families and who vouched for the twins. This included Verossa who happened to be Carim's half-brother. Nanoha was happy to see that Fate and Alicia had such strong supporters. They'd need it in order to remain in the school since she doubted a lot of the parents were happy with the break in that occurred.

"Thus if you take y and…." Signum's lecture was suddenly cut short when the door to the classroom opened.

Nanoha's eyes widened at the two people who walked through.

"Sorry for interrupting class." Fate addressed Signum.

"And sorry for being late." Alicia added.

Whatever Signum was going to say was interrupted by the sudden cheers that erupted from her class. Fate and Alicia flinched at the sudden sound and looked at the cheering faces of their classmates. They had that deer in the headlights look, unsure of how to react to the situation. They never expected their classmates to actually be happy with their return. If anything, they expected to be welcomed with distrust and contempt. Not this. Not all this cheering and happy greetings like they were friends. Signum smiled slightly at the girl's confused faces. In a way, they really were still innocent despite the way they'd grown up. She walked up behind the two girls and placed a hand on their shoulders.

"Everyone is happy to see you are alright." She whispered to them.

This only served to further confuse the twins. Signum chuckled.

"A lot has changed since you've been gone. Now, why don't you take you're seats? We still have class to get through."

Nodding, the blondes passed by their classmates who continued to smile and welcome them back as they walked to their seats. Fate sat down and began to take out her things, but something told her she needed to say something to the person sitting behind her. Fate turned in her seat and looked at Nanoha. The auburn haired girl was clearly happy and doing her best to hold back her tears. Still, Fate knew she couldn't just sit and ignore her like she'd done so many times before.

"I'm back." She said gently.

Nanoha's smile widened. "Welcome back."

Fate turned back and listened to the remainder of the lesson. The classroom seemed to have a much happier atmosphere than it had been the last few days. Soon it was lunch time for all of them. While they packed up their things, the door suddenly slammed open.

"We heard the trouble makers were back." A purple haired girl panted as she walked through.

"Suzuka-chan?" Arisa questioned.

"Ah, Arisa, I'd almost forgotten you were in this class too." Suzuka smiled. "Carim and I came to visit our new friends after we'd heard they were finally back."

"Friends?" Fate and Alicia both questioned each other. They didn't remember ever agreeing to be friends with the two girls.

"Of course we're friends." Carim sat herself on top of Alicia's desk. "I don't hold any ill will towards you for everything that happened. As a matter of fact, I thought it was incredibly brave of you to sacrifice yourselves for all of us."

"Yes, not many would have the courage to do what you did." Suzuka added.

"That's right!" Hayate chimed in. "You guys are bonafide heroes!"

Alicia had no time to react as Hayate jumped over her desk and hugged the blonde from behind. Just as quickly as it'd come, the warmth of Hayate's body left hers. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why she missed that warmth. Fate looked to Nanoha, who'd been strangely silent this whole time. This was far from the girl's normal behavior. What was wrong?

"Let's celebrate with a feast!" Hayate enthusiastically tugged Alicia out of her seat. "Let's go everyone!"

Carim giggled at Hayate's enthusiasm and jumped off Alicia's desk in order to follow the pair.

"Will you be joining us Arisa-chan?" Suzuka asked the blonde who'd remained behind from the rest of her classmates.

"I don't…."

"Oh come on," Suzuka grabbed her hand and also tugged her out of the classroom. "Quit being so shy."

"I'm not shy!" Arisa yelled as she was pulled through the door way.

With them out of the room, Fate looked around her. Somehow, they'd been left alone. Setting her eyes on the girl once again, she watched her carefully from her seat. Nanoha was staring at her desk, her hands gripped tightly in front of her. Being highly unfamiliar with this kind of situation, all Fate could do was sit there awkwardly. What was she supposed to do? She really couldn't just stay sitting there in complete silence. The silence didn't suit her. Not one bit. Fate tried to recall what her mother had done for her when they'd first moved in with her. She and Alicia were very withdrawn and unwilling to talk about anything. But Lindy was a very patient woman. Nodding to herself, she decided on a course of action. She just hoped she didn't mess it up somehow.

Fate got up from her seat and went to stand beside Nanoha. The auburn haired girl still didn't move despite Fate's actions. This definitely didn't feel right. Nanoha would normally be ecstatic that Fate was even paying any sort of attention to her. She hadn't known Nanoha for very long but this was all so wrong and she couldn't help but feel it was her fault, like she'd somehow caused the girl to act this way. She was sure she could add guilt to the new list of feeling she was quickly acquiring.

"Nanoha?"

The auburn haired girls head shot up to look at her. The surprise was evident not only on her face but on Fate's as well. She hadn't meant to call her by her name. She had been about to address her as she usually did, but somehow, she instead called to her so intimately. Suddenly, she remembered she had done so as well when she'd first woken up. After having that dream, she'd woken up and her name was the first thing that fell from her lips. Not her sisters, not Lindy's, but her. Nanoha.

Why?

"Nanoha."

This time, Nanoha did not remain in her seat. She jumped up and threw her arms around Fate. The blonde stood rigid as Nanoha sobbed into her shirt. What exactly had happened? Did she do something wrong? She'd only said her name and she was already crying. Fate had a feeling she was terrible at this whole…comforting thing.

"Fate-chan….Fate-chan…." Nanoha sobbed.

Something about the way Nanoha said her name tugged at her heartstrings. She sounded so….desperate. Again, Fate couldn't help but ask why? What was it that Nanoha was so desperate to reach? Realizing she wasn't doing any good just by standing there like a statue, Fate slowly wrapped one arm around Nanoha's waist while the other patted her head in an unsure manner.

"Why do you cry?"

Nanoha pulled away slightly to look into Fate's eyes. It was odd, Fate thought, the act of crying. Lindy had once told her that tears were not just to show ones sadness; they were also to show how happy someone was. So what kind of tears were these? The hand that had been patting Nanoha's head moved to gently cup the girls face. She watched in fascination as Nanoha's cheeks began to turn a lovely shade of pink. Her thumb moved almost lazily across her cheek wiping away the tears that stained it.

"Why do you cry?" she asked again. "Was I the cause?"

"N-no! Y-yes, I mean….it kind of is and isn't."

Fate could do nothing but stare in confusion. If possible, Nanoha felt her cheeks become even hotter under Fate's stare.

"I was just….so happy to see you."

"Happy?"

Nanoha nodded and laid her head against Fate's shoulder.

"I thought I'd never see you again. I thought that that day had been the last time I'd get to see you, to talk to you, to…..I didn't know what I'd do if I never saw you again."

Fate absorbed these words. So it had been her to cause these tears.

"Is it true, that you've known who I was since before we met?"

With all the commotion that the visit from the Assassin's Guild had caused, she hadn't had a chance to ask Nanoha about the dreams. The last one for sure had been strange.

"Yes. I've been having dreams about you since I was nine, but they haven't been just of you. Hayate, Arisa, Suzuka…and a lot of other people appeared in these dreams."

"What do they mean?"

Fate felt Nanoha shake her head.

"I don't know. Maybe they aren't meant to be anything, maybe they are of a past life. I wish I knew for sure, but all I know is that I've been waiting to meet you for a very long time."

Someone that actually wanted to meet her…..it was one of the oddest things she'd ever heard. Who'd actually want to meet someone like her? In her short existence, all she'd done was cause death, yet this person whom she'd never met wanted nothing more than to be close to her.

"Why?"

"Nyahaha! You probably wouldn't believe me…."

"You won't know unless you try."

Nanoha stayed silent for a moment before answering.

"Ever since I saw you in my dreams…..I knew you were special to me somehow. I didn't understand how until I met you."

For some reason, Fate felt her heart beat pick up. Something about this entire situation was oddly familiar yet incredibly strange at the same time. Nanoha pulled away and cupped Fate's face with her hands. What was happening exactly?

"How am I special to you?" Fate noted that her voice had become just a bit huskier than it normally was.

"Like this." Nanoha whispered.

Their lips touched and Fate felt the world around her go dark.

**-SafeandSound-**

Lindy sat in her office rubbing her forehead from the headache that was forming. She'd fought a hard battle against her superiors that'd wanted to keep Fate and Alicia locked up. For a while there, she thought she was going to lose the war, but then the most unexpected call came. She'd been told that the Prime Minister himself called her superior and told him to release Fate and Alicia. At first she wondered if Hayate had anything to do with it, but she was quickly proven wrong with the report she finished reading. It seemed that her daughters had made some very powerful friends. Having Shiro Takamachi on their side was already good, but thanks to this incident, she'd also found out that the Tsukimura's and the Gracia-Acous families were throwing their support behind them. They along with Shiro had called up the Gil Graham and told him exactly what was going on. She'd been incredibly shocked that they all had direct lines to the Prime Minister, not only that but they seemed to actually know him. It was a lot to take in.

"Ma'am?" someone knocked at her door.

Lindy pulled herself from her thoughts. "Come in."

Vice walked through the door looking just as tired as she was. It'd been a long week for them so far.

"What is it Vice-kun?"

"Precia wants to talk to you again."

Lindy felt her head throb in protest. Now was not the time for her to be dealing with the ramblings of a possibly crazy assassin. Still, if she turned down the offer to speak with her, Precia might stop talking to her. She couldn't let that happened. It may seem like all these random conversations she'd been having with her were useless, but Lindy had a feeling that the woman was trying to tell her something. Something big, but for whatever reason, she chose to go about it in a roundabout way. She wished she knew why.

"Should I tell her no ma'am?" Vice noted the tired look in Lindy's face. She'd gotten very little sleep in the time the twins were detained. It'd been hard on her since she'd been removed from the entire process as other officers, handpicked by their superior, took over the twins case. Luckily though, the case had been returned to their custody. It definitely gave Lindy more peace of mind knowing she was in charge of her girls again.

"No. Set up the meeting room as usual."

"Yes, ma'am."

Lindy sighed and pulled out some pills from her desk drawer. If she needed to talk to Precia, it would certainly help if she didn't have a headache incapacitating her. With a final sigh, she stood up from her desk and made the walk to the interrogation room. It'd become quite a familiar path. She stood in front of the door and waited for the go ahead to enter.

"You can go in ma'am." She heard Vice's voice over the radio.

She stepped inside the dimly lit room and took her normal seat. Precia smiled at her. Had she not been a crazy assassin, she'd maybe call her smile pretty. Maybe.

"Lindy. My you look rather tired."

"It's been a tough work week."

Precia's smiled widened.

"I can imagine. I take it the Guild decided to finally talk to my girls?"

Lindy's eyebrows furrowed. How was it possible for her to know that? No one spoke to her about anything that happened on the outside.

"Why would you think that?"

Precia chuckled. "Lindy, I thought we were going to be honest with each other from now on. I know what goes on beyond these walls. I have eyes and ears everywhere."

That was unnerving to say the least. Precia chuckled again at Lindy's expression.

"Oh I don't mean to scare you. I knew this would happen eventually. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. The Guild doesn't just allow us to roam free."

"Then why haven't they tried to contact you?"

"Well obviously they wouldn't try to storm Riot Force 6's secret base needlessly even if they knew where it was located. They know I'm no threat in my condition. Now should I somehow be freed, then I can expect a visit. Just like everyone else gets."

"You seem to know a lot about what's been going on."

"Knowledge is a very powerful thing to have. I've made sure I have plenty."

"You don't say."

"Yes, but I'm not the only who thinks this way."

"I'm sure a lot of people think that way."

"Indeed, but some of those people are not out to use this knowledge for good. Many use it for their own needs, not caring whether it harms anyone."

"Which category do you fall under?"

Precia smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Lindy said nothing.

"Maybe one day I'll tell you which way I swing." She added with a wink.

Lindy couldn't help the twitch in her eyes. She'd had very little sleep, a headache that decided to pay her another visit, and now Precia was flirting with her again. There was only so much she could take in one day.

"As fun as this is, I should get to the reason why I called you here today." She waited a moment before continuing. "Have you ever heard of Jail Scaglietti?"

**AN:** And that's the end of the chapter folks. I hope you enjoyed it. I know it was long overdue. So please review. I always appreciate those. Until next time!


	8. Chapter 8

**An: **Hello to all my loyal readers! You're probably all glad I'm updating things again. Slowly but surely everything is getting a new chapter so I thank you for all the patience you guys have shown. I'm going to keep this author's note short and let you get back into the world of Safe and Sound. First though, a quick shout out to all the people that reviewed:

**KARI, Linrei, Kris-tim-chan, Yo-kun, Parme-san, zahc, yukiyuuki, Mayvarik, Jay, Aka Chibi-chan, Hyuuga-Sword, karibel, alexwill22, Lance58, ZonaRose, Tsuchiyasa, bardiche, SappoSensei, devilhamster, priest1drago, Nightraze, trumm12345, darkvalk, Spikesagitta, eries326, and Honulicious**

You guys continue to be awesome. Now on with the chapter!

Safe and Sound

"Jail Scaglietti?"

Precia's smile widened.

"That's right."

"I can't say that I have."

"Ah, I see." She went quiet again and just stared at Lindy in a thoughtful manner. Her stares always served to unnerve Lindy but she'd started to grow use to these looks.

"Should I have known who he was?"

Precia leaned back slightly in her chair.

"I think it's a good thing you don't."

Lindy committed the name to memory. Why would Precia bring up someone just to see if she knew them? What was the reason? Precia did and said things for a reason even if they didn't make sense right away. Like these meetings they'd been having, there was no real purpose to them other than for Precia to tell Lindy a few vague things here and there. Still, Lindy had been suspecting that the meetings were not as random as she though. After her first meeting, something nagged at her but she hadn't been able to see why it bugged her so much. Then a few days after later, she got a call from her superiors. They let her know that they were canceling their plan to put Precia under torture. Lindy hadn't even been aware there had been plans to do so until that day. This event led her to begin thinking about their odd meetings. It was just far too coincidental that Precia suddenly started to talk about things when she was in danger, but how did she know that she was? The more she talked with this woman, the more she seemed to know about events happening on the outside. She recalled that Precia once said she had eyes and ears everywhere. Lindy was beginning to think this wasn't just a passing comment. She was sure that there was a lot more to the women sitting in front of her than she'd originally thought. She just had to put together all the pieces of the puzzle and figure out what Precia was trying to tell her.

"Did you know the Guild wasn't always their own organization?"

Lindy's eyes almost widened. Almost. This was the first time Precia ever mentioned anything about the Assassin's Guild.

"Should you really be telling me anything about The Guild?"

"Isn't that why you're keeping me here?"

"I was under the impression that Guild business was never to be revealed under the threat of death."

Precia leaned in as close as she could and smiled.

"Is that worry I hear in your voice?"

"You're imagining things."

"Ah, but it would mean so much to me if you were."

Lindy gave in and rubbed her forehead. Her headache was getting worse. Precia never made things easy for her, especially once she started her flirting.

"Are you not feeling well Lindy?"

"Since when are you allowed to call me by my first name?"

"Since you walked in the door or did you not notice my secret agent?"

The cyan haired woman tried not to groan. She was really out of it if she didn't even notice the change at the beginning of their conversation. This wasn't good at all. She needed to get some rest, but more importantly, she needed to get her act together in front of this woman; this infuriating riddle known as Precia Testarossa. Lindy straightened back up and faced her prisoner.

"You are not allowed to call me by my first name."

"Why not? If you'd like, you can call me by my first name as well."

"We are anything but friends Testarossa."

"Oh, I don't know _Lindy_. I think we can be something much more than friends."

"Testarossa…." Lindy warned.

"Very well my secret agent. I'll refrain from calling you anything but Harlaown-san."

"Good."

"But in exchange you have to call me by my name."

"No."

"Then I guess this is where our conversations end."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh but I am. From this point on, I will no longer be seeking you out for our little talks. Unless, of course, you do as I ask. Otherwise, have fun figuring out what you can with what I've given you."

"I will not call you by your name."

Precia didn't say anything and just stared blankly at the agent.

"Testarossa…." Lindy tried to warn her again but the assassin didn't budge. She'd had a tiring enough day as it was, she was not in the mood to play Precia's little games. She would not give into whatever it was that the woman wanted. Calling Precia by her first name was out of the question. It would suggest familiarity between them; a bond of sorts. She wasn't about to have something like that with the woman that did so much damage to her two girls. "Do as you like, but I will not give in to your demands."

Lindy signaled to the guards to take away the prisoner. Once Precia was removed from the room, Lindy stood from her seat and made her way back to her office. There was still paper work that needed to be finished before she could return home for some much needed rest. She could sleep easier now knowing that Alicia and Fate would be home.

**-SafeandSound-**

"_Will you marry me?"_

_Fate was puzzled. What exactly was she doing? It was odd because part of her knew she was doing the logical thing and proposing to her longtime girlfriend, but another part was telling her that this wasn't her at least not exactly. She was still much younger than the person she was now. What was going on?_

"_Yes! Fate-chan, I'll marry you!"_

_Suddenly, all the odd thought's she'd been having disappeared and the only thing she could think of was how happy she was that Nanoha said yes. The auburn haired girl jumped in her arms and all Fate wanted to do was hold her like that for eternity. The distinct sound of sobbing was heard, but Fate knew she was crying out of happiness. They'd wanted to marry for so long now, but with her job constantly keeping her away it seemed like the right time was never going to come. Fate though, wasn't going to let her job keep her from the person she loved. She'd been working extra hard these last couple months so that she could get enough time off to not only help plan for the wedding but to also be around for the first few months of their newlywed lives. _

"_Don't cry." She whispered into her fiancée's ear._

"_I-I can't help it. You've made me so happy."_

_Fate pulled back slightly and tentatively kissed away the tears from Nanoha's face._

"_Fate-chan…."_

"_I don't like seeing Nanoha cry even if it's because she's happy. I like a smiling Nanoha best."_

_The tears were still there, but Nanoha gave Fate the most brilliant smile she could. In Fate's opinion, nothing was more beautiful than Nanoha's smiling face. Fate nervously slipped on the ring that Signum had helped her pick out. She remembered she'd been so nervous the first time she walked into a jewelry store that she couldn't decide what to get much less tell the employee what kind of ring she was looking for. Her second visit proved more productive thanks to Signum keeping her from becoming a stuttering mess when the jewelry store employee asked what kind of ring she was looking for._

"_I love you." Fate said. "And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

_Nanoha held Fate's hands in her own._

"_Forever Fate-chan, I'll spend forever with you."_

_Fate smiled. Nanoha felt her breathe hitch. Fate always told her how there was nothing more beautiful than when she smiled, but the auburn haired girl had to disagree. If anything, nothing could compare to a smile on the blonde Enforcer's lips. Nanoha leaned up and captured those lips with her own._

Fate's eyes groggily opened.

"Hey she's waking up."

That was definitely Hayate's voice. Where was she?

"I can't believe she passed out from a kiss."

That was unmistakably Arisa sounding as grumpy as ever.

"Was this her first kiss?"

It sounded like Suzuka was shuffling around her. Fate groaned and sat up.

"Fate?" Alicia asked her twin.

The older blonde was kneeling by her sister making sure she was okay to stand on her own.

"I'm fine."

"You're not that fine if you fainted." Arisa grumbled. "Come on let's get you to the nurses office."

"I'm fine. Really."

"Doesn't matter, you need a place to lie down." Arisa pointed to the door. Fate could not find it in her to argue with her classmate.

"Let me help you up Fate-chan." Nanoha, who Fate hadn't noticed until that point, held out her hand.

Fate looked at that hand and blushed. She could not understand why she was reacting in that way. It was like it was an instinct.

"Are you okay Fate-chan? You look rather flushed." Hayate smirked off to the side. She knew very well why it was that Fate was reacting in such a manner, but it was no fun if she revealed the fact to the blonde assassin. She had to figure it out on her own although she would try to help her out and point her in the right direction. She had a feeling that both twins would need a push in the right direction.

"I'm taking her to the nurse." Alicia announced. "You can all go to lunch. I'll take care of her."

"Are you sure?" Suzuka asked. "We don't mind going with you."

"We'll be fine."

"Then let's get going. Let us know if you guys need anything." Carim slowly ushered out their friends so that the twins could have their privacy. Nanoha though, couldn't bring herself to leave. She'd been so scared that something bad had happened to Fate when they'd kissed. It was a relief that she only passed out but she wanted to go with her to make sure everything was okay and hopefully find out why it was that she'd fainted like that. She was sure that kissing someone shouldn't result in that person fainting.

Alicia noticed that Nanoha was hesitating to leave and as much as she wanted the auburn haired girl to stay away from her sister, she couldn't make her do that. Even if she could, she had a feeling that Nanoha would not heed her warning. She wouldn't be surprised. The girl wasn't scared of her or Fate. She'd taken an interest in her sister since the moment they met and even when she found out who they were she still wouldn't distance herself from them. Alicia would say this interest was unhealthy but then her own sudden interest in Hayate wasn't something she could explain either. For the moment though, Alicia knew it would be best to keep Nanoha at a distance from Fate. At least until she got the full story on what happened. Alicia stood up and faced the other girl.

"Go with them." She left no room for argument in her voice.

"But…."

"I'll let you know when you can see her."

"Alicia." Fate stood up. She wavered slightly but managed to stand on her own. "It's okay."

Alicia didn't look convinced.

Fate turned to Nanoha. "Go have lunch. I'll be back in time for class." She hoped that she'd listen to her. Fate knew Alicia meant well, but she didn't want Nanoha to be threatened by anyone, not even her own sister.

Nanoha nodded hesitantly, but left without further argument.

"Since when do you call her by her first name?" Alicia looked at her twin oddly.

"I'm not sure, but it feels natural."

"Feels?"

"Odd isn't it?"

"Very, but I can't say it's too odd."

"Why is that?"

"I've been having odd feelings around Yagami-san."

"You too?"

"I believe we're going soft."

Fate motioned for Alicia to follow her. The twins walked out of their classroom and towards the nurse's office.

"Lindy-san wouldn't call it a weakness." Fate commented. It was true. If anything, the older woman would be ecstatic to know that they were becoming more attached to the people around them.

"I know which is why I feel conflicted about these changes."

"I don't blame you. I've been having the same issues with all this."

"It's a good thing right?"

"Lindy-san would say so." Fate reiterated.

"Feelings make things more difficult."

"I couldn't agree more."

The two reached the nurses office. Shamal was at her desk having her lunch while looking over some paperwork.

"Already need medical attention? You haven't been back for a whole day." She said playfully.

"I just need to lie down." Fate answered.

"Hmm? What seems to be the problem?" Shamal motioned towards one of the beds. Fate picked one and went to lie down.

"I fainted."

"Is there any particular reason why you did?"

Fate suddenly didn't feel like answering that question. Was she feeling embarrassed? That was another first for her.

"Takamachi-san kissed her."

Shamal's eyes widened slightly.

"Really now. My, my, the baby of the family has found her special someone." Shamal chuckled. "I hope you know what you're in for."

"What do you mean?" Fate turned to her side to look at the blonde nurse.

"Well, seeing as she's Shiro's baby girl, I think he'd have a bit of an issue if you were romancing her."

"I'm not the one doing the romancing." Fate grumbled. If anyone was doing the romancing it was Nanoha. Fate wasn't even sure it had been going on until a few minutes ago. It's not like she had any experience with romance, but it was nice to know that she'd better watch out for Shiro Takamachi. She just hoped she'd get some time to prepare herself before the man came after her thinking something outrageous had happened between her and Nanoha because nothing had. _She _hadn't done a thing.

"I haven't done a thing."

"And I believe you but I doubt he will." Shamal turned to Alicia. "Will you be staying here as well?"

"You should go to lunch." Fate cut in before Alicia could answer. "I'll stay here."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine Alicia. There is no sense in both of us missing lunch. If something does happen I promise someone will get you."

"Very well, I'll come pick you up before lunch ends though."

"Alright."

Alicia nodded to Shamal before leaving for the lunch room. Fate turned back to the older blonde woman. This whole thing with Nanoha was confusing and as much as she was uncomfortable with it, she needed someone to talk to. Shamal was a good candidate at least until she could talk with Lindy.

"Shamal-sensei?"

"Yes?"

"You are married correct?"

"That's right."

"Do you love the person you're married to?"

"Very much so, it's why I married her." Shamal added with a smile.

"How did you know this person was the right one?"

"Hmm, well, every time I look at this person I feel my heart quicken. My chest flutters with warmth whenever I see her. All I want to do is spend the rest of my life with her. It's hard to explain."

Fate thought back to her strange dream. Of how an older version of her was proposing to an older Nanoha and how she felt when the auburn haired girl agreed to marry her. Were those feelings real? Or was it just the dream making her react like that? She wished she could say for sure.

"How do I know I love someone?"

Shamal looked at the girl before. To hear her ask about this sort of thing was quite possibly one of the oddest things she'd ever heard. This girl, who'd never, felt anything before, was falling in love. At least, Shamal though she was. From what she'd seen, Nanoha was one of the only people who'd broken through Fate's barriers. She was one of the only people that the blonde acknowledged. There were a few people now in the blonde's life that she treated differently, she might even call them her friends, but the auburn haired girl got special treatment that Fate probably didn't even realize she was giving. She could say the same thing about Alicia with Hayate. The first time she'd witnessed the pair bantering as they walked through the hallway, she had to pinch herself to make sure she hadn't imagined the whole thing. Maybe it wasn't love that the two girls were feeling for their respective friends, but she was sure that they at least held some form of affection for them. That, in and of itself, was a great leap forward.

"Well, I wouldn't jump straight to love right away. I'd say that's something that comes later, but love at first sight isn't completely unheard of."

"Then what would be the first step?"

"I'd say liking someone is the typical first step."

"….how do I know I like someone?"

"Hmm, well I suppose every time you see this person you feel like your heart is about to burst from your chest. You feel shyer around them."

"Isn't that similar to being in love?"

"I suppose it is, which is why it's so easy to mistake the feeling of liking someone for love."

"Then how do I know which is which?"

"Unfortunately, there is no real way to know. Sometimes it can be trial and error and you may get hurt, but it's all part of life. When you do find the person you're meant to be with though, you'll know."

"This is not very logical."

Shamal couldn't help but giggle. Fate and Alicia were truly still innocent in many ways.

"Feelings are hardly ever logical, but it's not all bad."

Fate wasn't entirely convinced but she would take the older woman's word for it. Maybe Lindy would have a better insight into this whole liking someone thing.

**-SafeandSound-**

Alicia arrived at the table that the rest of her possible friends sat at. She was unsure of what to refer to them since calling them classmates didn't seem right. They weren't just classmates. She ignored most people she'd consider her classmates. The people sitting at the lunch table she most certainly did not ignore. Perhaps she did so to Hayate but that was only when the brunette got on her nerves. She acknowledged them almost to the same extent she'd acknowledge the people she'd come to see as family. The only logical thing she could refer to them was friends even if she still refused to give them a title out loud.

"Alicia!" Hayate waved. "So is Fate alright?"

Alicia nodded. "She said she'd be back for class but I'm going to pick her up just to make sure."

"You're such a good big sister." Hayate poked her cheek.

"What have I told you about touching me?"

"Not to?"

"Then why are you?"

"But I like touching you!"

Arisa turned to Nanoha, who looked a bit forlornly at her lunch. Something about the way Nanoha was acting bugged the brash blonde and she was determined to not let Nanoha wallow in her misery.

"Are they always like this?" Arisa hoped that snapped her outta the funk she was so enthralled in.

"Oh, umm, yes. Hayate-chan seems to enjoy teasing her, but Alicia-chan isn't a push over."

"Oi! Hayate!" a short red head slammed her lunch tray on the table. "Stop provoking her!"

"Mistress never listens." Reinforce joined them at their table.

The two girls typically joined them for lunch in order to keep an eye on Hayate since the girl liked to cause trouble for herself. Their services though had so far gone unused. The only person Hayate enjoyed picking on was Alicia and the blonde assassin had never done anything that would warrant the brunette girl's bodyguards to jump into action. They were still wary of her though.

"Alicia-chan loves me too much to hurt me." Hayate grinned.

"Those are some bold words there Yagami."

The table's attention was brought to two approaching girls and their bodyguard. Hayate's grin immediately disappeared. These two were quite possibly, her least favorite people at this school. Amitie and Kyrie Florian had done nothing but make life more frustrating in the brunette's opinion. They for sure, were one of the more outspoken students who bad mouthed Alicia and Fate. They were probably there again to try to instigate problems with them hoping to get the twins expelled. Alicia and Fate though never rose to their bait and instead ignore the two sisters. Hayate's gaze turned to their silent bodyguard. Yuri Eberwein was Amitie's bodyguard more than Kyrie's. Because of this, she and Reinforce seemed to have some sort of rivalry going on because Amitie always tried to compete against Hayate in whatever she could. It seemed she couldn't just be the best at school without her bodyguard being the best as well, which was frustrating for Amitie when Hayate held the top scores in the school.

"I only speak the truth." Hayate answered a bit tensely.

"I don't think _Alicia-chan_ agrees with you." Amitie said with a smirk. "Do you Alicia-chan?"

Hayate felt her hands clench under the lunch table. She didn't like the fact that the red haired girl had said Alicia's name like that. It was one thing to have Nanoha call Alicia by her name, but when anyone else did so, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Carim, for example, seemed to have formed some sort of bond with Alicia, but Hayate wasn't overly happy with the new friendship only because Alicia seemed to be letting the other blonde past her defenses a lot easier than she was allowing Hayate. Was it because they had something to bond over? Or maybe it was because Hayate had broken down her defenses enough that she was naturally allowing people in? Hayate liked to think it was the latter. It still bugged her though. Now someone else thought they could be familiar with the blonde assassin when she'd worked so hard to get her to acknowledge her? Not exactly her favorite thing to hear, especially if that other person was Amitie.

Alicia noticed Hayate had become tenser with the arrival of the two girls. The blonde looked over them quickly and assessed that they were no real threat. Her eyes settled momentarily on the bodyguard. She knew the girl was the older Florian's bodyguard and she wasn't impressed with what she'd heard. Carim and Suzuka were more impressive and well-rounded fighters than this girl was. In her opinion, if Yuri Eberwein wanted to be a better bodyguard, then she needed to stop her pointless "rivalry" with Reinforce because the silver haired girl was already far better than she was. Alicia would have to guess that Reinforce was just doing it to humor her for the sake of Hayate. Her eyes drifted back to Amitie who had a smug smile on her face. Alicia guessed that she took her silence to mean she'd been right with her previous statement. The blonde didn't easily get riled up but the fact that this girl was making Hayate feel bad did not sit well with her. She could handle being "bullied" because nothing really affected her emotionally. Almost nothing that is. Things involving Hayate though, was another story. The brunette could be annoying sometimes but she never meant anyone any harm and Alicia had to admit that she did enjoy the girls company.

"I can't say I agree with your statement, Florian-san." Alicia took a bite of her sandwich and ignored the astonished stares everyone threw at her.

"I knew you loved me!" Hayate hugged Alicia who, for once, didn't push the other girl away. Instead, she continued to eat her sandwich like it was the normal thing to do.

Amitie seemed to recover slightly and decided to make a hasty exit.

"L-Let's go Kyrie."

"Hold on! I still haven't talked to Fate-chan."

You could practically her Nanoha's head snap in the younger Florian's direction. Arisa was sure she saw fire burning in those eyes and it was rather frightening. She thought back to the time that Nanoha snapped at her and she hoped to never get the girl mad at her again. The blonde had a feeling that that slap was nothing compared to her punches. Nanoha wasn't the weak girl she appeared to be. Arisa knew that no child raised by Shiro Takamachi would be pushovers.

"What do you want with Fate-chan?" There was an edge to her voice one that neither of the Florian sisters seemed to detect. Alicia took note though that at least Yuri seemed to notice and had positioned herself so that she could jump in should she need to. Perhaps the girl wasn't totally hopeless.

"I was going to offer her the glorious chance to be my bodyguard." She ended with a flip of her hair.

Alicia thought she imagined it, but she could've sworn that the temperature dropped near the vicinity of Nanoha. She watched the auburn haired girl with interest. Was she really already that possessive over her sister?

"Fate-chan won't agree. You're wasting your time."

"And who are you to speak for her?" Kyrie asked haughtily.

"I'm…." Nanoha hesitated. What was she to Fate? They were friends. Maybe. It was hard to say she was when Fate didn't refer to her as such. Girlfriends? Not even an option. They'd kissed once and Fate had fainted because of it. What could she say?

"That's what I thought. You're nobody to her."

Nanoha slammed her hands on the table and stood up to face the pink haired girl. Everyone thought for sure that Nanoha was going to deck the pink haired girl.

"Fate-chan is my bodyguard! You can't take her from me!"

You could hear a pin drop in the cafeteria.

**-SafeandSound-**

"I'll be heading to class."

"Off with you. I don't want to see you in here again for a while."

"I'll try not to be back." Fate opened the door and was about to walk out but stopped and turned back to the blonde nurse. "Thank you for your advice."

Shamal blinked twice, not believing her ears, but she recovered quickly and smiled at the girl.

"You're welcome."

Satisfied that she was polite with her interaction with Shamal, Fate walked out of the room and to her class. She wondered why Alicia hadn't stopped by like she said she was going to, but Fate assumed that something must've kept her. It probably had something to do with Hayate. No one else could distract Alicia more than the brunette.

"Fate!"

The blonde assassin stopped her stroll. She looked behind her to see Alicia running towards her.

"Alicia, I thought you'd been distracted by Hayate."

"Yagami-san is always… did you just call her by her first name?"

Fate blinked twice not believing her ears either.

"I did?"

"Yes. What is going on?" Alicia hadn't meant it but she snapped at her sister.

"I don't know. It just felt normal." Fate tried to explain; unsure of what was happening with Alicia or herself as well.

Alicia shook her head. She couldn't believe she'd snapped at Fate. She shouldn't be feeling possessive of Hayate from her own sister. Fate had been going through some odd changes and so was she. Snapping at her over something like this would help no one. She needed to control herself when it came to things regarding Hayate.

"Let's just not worry about that right now. If anything, we should worry about the commotion Takamachi-san has caused."

"What did she do?"

The two girls began to walk again.

"She claimed you were her bodyguard to everyone during lunch."

Fate stopped walking.

"What?"

Alicia stopped just in front of her.

"Yeah, it's caused quite the uproar within the student body."

"Is that a good thing?"

"I'm not sure yet. What I do know is we best prepare for an angry call from Shiro Takamachi."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant."

"It probably won't be."

Alicia began to walk again with Fate falling into step beside her.

"Lindy-san should be warned. She will be the one who has to deal with this after all." Fate suggested.

"I've already sent her a message letting her know the situation."

"Good. She'll be able to prepare herself with what little time she has before this reaches Shiro-san."

The remainder of the way, Alicia filled in Fate on what she had missed while she was in the nurse's office. The two girls walked into their classroom, the whispers of their classmates followed but this time their whispers didn't contain any malice towards them.

"Fate-chan," Nanoha walked towards the blonde timidly. A frown adorned her face. "I'm so sorry. I caused you more problems."

Something inside her told her to reassure Nanoha, to make that frown disappear. Fate didn't hesitate to gently lift Nanoha's head.

"Don't blame yourself. We'll figure something out."

The small smile that graced Nanoha's features was enough for Fate to decide that she made the right choice. Facing Shiro Takamachi though, was going to be quite the battle. Could she do it just to see Nanoha happy?

"Thank you Fate-chan."

A warm flutter filled her chest. Fate was sure she could. She didn't know what was happening to her, but for that smile, for this girl, she felt she could do anything. Is this what liking someone felt like? Or was this more than that?

"Everyone to your seats!"

Their teacher arrived and the chatter ceased. Everyone took their seats and absorbed themselves in their lessons.

**-SafeandSound-**

Lindy arrived home just in time for her phone to ring. The number that flashed was not the person she wanted to talk to at the moment but this needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

"Hello Shiro."

"_Since when is your daughter __**my**__ daughter's bodyguard?"_

"Shiro, I'm not going to lie to you, I don't know what is going on. I have a vague idea but that's it. If you really want your question answered then I suggest you wait and ask your daughter since I hear she was the one who stated that Fate was her bodyguard."

"…_."_

"I know you have reservations about my girls and I don't blame you, but they are different. If you give them a chance, they won't let you down."

"_I'll speak to Nanoha when she gets home. I'll expect you and your daughter over for dinner sometime this week."_

"Very well, call me with a time and date."

The phone call ended with a click. Lindy was just glad that the call wasn't as bad as it could have been. She'd fully expected Shiro to chew her out but he was reasonable. His wife must've been in the same room as him. Only Momoko could keep him under control. With a tired sigh, she went inside her home in order to change into her civilian clothing. She'd be picking up the girls in a couple hours but before then, she wanted to get a nap in. She'd earned at least that much after her long week.

**-SafeandSound-**

"Man class dragged for that last hour!" Hayate stretched her tired muscles. "Good thing our weekend is here."

"For once I agree with you." Arisa said as she packed her things.

"So what's everyone doing for the weekend?" Nanoha asked.

"No plans really." Hayate answered. "Oh! If no one else has anything to do, I suggest we all have a sleepover!"

"That's a great idea!" Nanoha exclaimed. "Would my house be okay? Otherwise Dad might not let me go out."

"Your dad is way too overprotective." Arisa commented.

"I know but he means well."

"So are you coming Arisa?" Hayate asked.

"I guess….."

"Don't be so shy Arisa." Suzuka appeared out of nowhere.

"Ah! Don't do that!" Arisa held her hand against her chest in fright. "And for the last time I'm not shy!"

"Oh my poor frightened Arisa-chan. Don't worry, I'll protect you." Suzuka cooed as she hugged the scowling blonde.

"You're the one who surprised me in the first place." Arisa grumbled.

"Who would've thought you two were such good friends." Carim walked into their classroom with Vita and Reinforce in tow. She'd met up with the two girls who would be escorting Hayate home on this particular day. Usually, Shamal, Signum and Zafira would be with them but the older bodyguards had a teacher's meeting to attend to so it was up to the younger girls to ensure Hayate's safety.

"We are childhood friends although Arisa-chan here can be a little bit snooty."

"I'm not snooty!"

"I only said you were a little bit."

"Just stop talking."

The girls had a good laugh at Arisa's expense but it was all in good fun.

"Will you be going too Alicia-chan?" Hayate asked.

Alicia and Fate stared blankly at their friends.

"What is a sleepover?" they asked simultaneously.

Their friends blinked in disbelief. Then they thought about it for a second and it made sense that they didn't know what a sleepover was. All their lives, they'd been trained to be used as assassins. There was no room for them to be normal kids or experience anything that could be considered normal.

"That's even more of a reason for you guys to come!" Carim exclaimed. "You need to do more teenager like things."

"Agreed!" Hayate stood up from her desk. "As Class President, I require you two to attend Nanoha's First Ever Extravagant Sleepover!"

"Class President doesn't have that kind of authority." Alicia stated simply.

"That's beside the point!" Hayate pointed at the twins. "You two need to go. We'll show you what it's like to be more like teenagers."

The blonde's looked at each other.

"I suppose we could as Lindy-san for permission." Fate said.

"Alright! Then we'll be meeting tonight at Nanoha's at 6pm sharp! Do I make myself clear troops!"

"Aye, aye captain!" Carim saluted the girl.

"Carim! I promote you to private first class!"

"Thank you ma'am! My dreams have come true!"

The girls (minus Fate and Alicia) had another good laugh at the ridiculous antics of Hayate and Carim. Fate and Alicia were convinced they'd associated themselves with some odd people but they weren't too bad to be around. The girls finished gathering their things and walked out to the pickup zone. Alicia and Fate spotted Lindy and were about to say good bye to their friends when they suddenly found the girls had left them behind and ran towards Lindy's car.

"Lindy-san! Can Alicia-chan and Fate-chan attend a sleepover?" Hayate reached the car first and asked.

"A sleepover? Where will this sleepover be held at?"

"Nanoha's!" The rest of the girls caught up and answered.

Lindy thought twice about saying yes only because Shiro was not in a good mood when it came to the subject of the twins. Still, this could be the perfect chance for him to see first-hand what kind of people they were. She knew Shiro had access to some files with the girl's basic information, but there was only so much you could learn by reading. This was the chance for them to prove themselves to the man.

"Please Lindy-san." Nanoha asked this time. "I….we'd really like for them to come."

Lindy smiled. It was rather endearing to see just how much Nanoha cared and from what she'd seen of Hayate's interactions with Alicia, she'd have to say that both her daughters had found special people.

"Well I don't have a problem with it, but it's up to them if they want to go."

Fate and Alicia made it to their adoptive mother's car just in time to hear her say that. Their friends immediately rounded on them.

"What do you say guys?" Suzuka asked. "Are you going to join us?"

Fate and Alicia looked to each other once more. The group of friends never said this before but sometimes it freaked them out how it seemed like the twins were communicating telepathically. They were just so in sync that they finished each other's sentences and practically though along the same lines.

"We have no issues with it." Fate concluded.

"We'll meet you at Takamachi-san's house at 6." Alicia finished.

"Alright! Let's be off and prepare!" Hayate exclaimed as she ran to her waiting vehicle with Vita and Reinforce running behind her.

The group dispersed leaving the twins with Lindy. The older woman chuckled.

"You've made some good friends."

The blondes hopped into the car, thinking about what Lindy had said.

"I suppose we have." Alicia said after a few silent moments.

"Well then, since you'll be spending the night at Shiro-san's I think it's only fair that I warn you about his grumpy mood."

"The news reached him already?" Fate was honestly surprised he found out so soon. She figured he'd find out when Nanoha got home.

"It didn't take very long, but that being said, you will need to be on your guard while in his home. I doubt he'll try to do anything too drastic, but I wouldn't put him past trying to intimidate you. Use this chance to show him that there is no reason for him to feel threatened by you or that you mean any harm to his family. If you can prove this to him, I think he'll be a lot more pleasant to deal with in the future."

"We'll try our best." The twins answered.

"I know you will. Now let's get you home so I can give you a run down on what to expect at a slumber party."

**-SafeandSound-**

Linith stood under a tree watching as the people around her carried on with their lives not knowing she was even there. It amazed her how unaware everyone could be of their surroundings.

"How is it working in an office?" she seemingly asked no one.

"Not a very exciting endeavor." Answered a clearly male voice.

"I can imagine you miss being out in the field."

"To some extent. Playing the good guy though has its challenges."

"Challenges can be fun."

"Which is why I took the job."

"What's the status?"

"Everything is moving according to plan."

"Any issues?"

"Just the usual one."

"Someone is going to need a talking to."

"As long as it doesn't interfere with the grand scheme of things, I think it's something we can let slide for now."

Linith sighed. "I suppose we can. Let me know if it becomes a bigger issue though."

"Of course, I'll keep in touch Panther."

"I look forward to it Sniper."

**AN:** Ending it there. I wasn't sure where to end it at first, but this is a good spot. Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter and if you did then review and let me know! I appreciate all the things you guys write to me. Until next time!


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** Talk about a long chapter. I went crazy with this one. This is definitely the longest chapter I've written for this story. I tend to average 6,000 to 7,000 words on a good day but when I hit 9,000 to 10,000 then I'm in the zone. This is probably the last chapter for this year seeing as I tend to update each story once a month. Looking forward to what the new year will bring unless, you know, the world ends. Anyway, thanks again to everyone who reviews. Thanks specifically to the following people for reviewing the last chapter: **LC Rina, Inara Seraph, Tsuchiyasa, Rapier11, Redmoon021, Lance58, Hyuuga-Sword, Yo-kun, Parme-san, trumm12345, ThePanicHour, Spikesagitta, Jay, Aka Chibi-chan, Honulicious, Nyaaaaaaah, Xenoverse, bardiche, darkvalk, 2takuya, devilhamster, kiruchi, genetic-depression and all the guest reviews!**

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Safe and Sound

"What a wonderful opportunity for you girls to strengthen the bond with your new friends!"

Lindy clamored around the room excitedly gathering everything the twins would need for the sleepover at the Takamachi's. On the sofa sat two duffel bags with various things sticking out of them. Fate and Alicia were going through it and rearranging things since they had a bit of an OCD when it came to having things organized. Lindy found this to be a bit overwhelming at first when in their first week in living with them they'd rearranged the entire house to be more orderly. Lindy had to admit that it was easier to find things but she wasn't one to be overly organized. A little messiness made things feel more at home. It was something she was still working on with the girls, but they'd made some progress. The twins stopped trying to keep everything in the house meticulously neat and had kept it strictly to their rooms.

Fate and Alicia continued to fold and organize the clothes Lindy threw their way.

"What exactly is involved in this kind of gathering?" Alicia asked.

"Well it's been a few years since I've been to one," Alicia and Fate resisted the urge to point that it'd probably been more than a few years for Lindy, but they'd found that mentioning age to women opened up a can of worms they'd rather not deal with. "But usually you give each other makeovers, watch scary movies together, and just enjoy each other's company."

"Hmm, is there a purpose to this?" Fate asked this time.

"Getting to know each other better I suppose. Having these sorts of gatherings helps build a stronger friendship."

"And all…. Friends do this?" Alicia still sounded unsure about spending the night anywhere near Hayate. The girl was clingy enough as it was. Would she try something during this gathering? She felt she'd better watch out for Hayate more than Shiro.

"A majority do."

"Hmm…." Was Fate and Alicia's response.

Lindy smiled at her two girls.

"You don't have to be scared."

"We're not scared." The twins huffed at such a notion. Like a simple gathering would scare them.

"Fine, fine. Don't be so nervous then."

The twins said nothing this time and just grumbled under their breath.

"I know this is all new for you but I know you'll be fine. Just remember everything I told you and, more importantly, don't worry about Shiro-san. I doubt he'll do much with his wife hovering over his shoulder." Lindy giggled. "That man is thoroughly whipped by his wife."

**xxx**

"I'm not comfortable with this." Signum was pacing back in forth in front of Hayate who was sitting on their living room couch.

"Nothing's going to happen, Signum. It's not like I haven't been around them before."

"That was at school. In a place we could keep an eye on them."

"Like Shiro Takamachi isn't going to keep an eye on them in his home. He probably has the placed rigged with cameras and additional guards at this point."

Signum had to concede that point. Shiro was probably more uncomfortable with this than she was. Still, this definitely was different. At school she not only had the opportunity to keep an eye on them herself, but they were surrounded by other teachers who weren't just trained to teach, but also trained to fight. She wouldn't be able to do anything if Hayate went. How was she supposed to keep her safe?

"Signum, believe me, I'll be okay."

"But…."

"I trust them."

"…."

"I say we listen to Hayate." Shamal entered the room with Vita and Reinforce.

"Not you too." Signum frowned. She felt like she was the only one speaking with reason.

The blonde nurse walked up to her wife and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Honey, you worry too much."

"I feel like I'm the only one worrying."

"You aren't the only one. I worry too but have they given you a reason to think they'd hurt Hayate?"

"Not but…"

"No buts! However, if it will make you feel better, Vita and Reinforce will be going as well." Shamal motioned to the younger girls.

"What?" Hayate looked towards her two bodyguards.

"We're just going to make sure you don't do anything stupid." Vita answered.

"Mistress has a tendency to push Alicia Harlaown's buttons." Reinforce added.

"Oh I see. So it's me you don't trust." Hayate chuckled. "Well then, shall we get going?"

**xxx**

"I don't want them in this house."

"But daddy!"

"I said no and my word is final!"

Nanoha and her father had been having this argument since the moment she walked through the door. His mood had already been bad since someone had tipped him off about his daughter's sudden declaration concerning a certain blonde assassin. Of course being as stubborn as she was, Nanoha wasn't about to let her father ruin her chance to get to know Fate better. Each of them would not back down and for Shiro, this was a first. His children hardly ever fought him when it came to certain decisions he made for them and when they did, it was solved in a manner that didn't involve yelling. This though, he was sure everyone in the house could hear their argument.

"That's enough you two." Momoko stood before them with both hands on her hips. "Shiro I already called Lindy and let her know it was okay to bring her two girls."

"What? Honey why would you…"

"Because they deserve a chance. Isn't that the reason you've thrown your support behind them as well?"

"That is for a different matter."

"No it's not. You can't just support them in public then think you can say otherwise when it comes to personal matters."

Shiro didn't say anything. He hated to admit his wife had a point. Saying one thing and doing another…. That wasn't like him. He couldn't help it though. This was his baby and she had chosen the most dangerous person to associate herself with!

"Go get ready for your guests Nanoha." Momoko shooed her daughter away. "I'll handle your father. Don't worry about a thing."

Nanoha's face lit up with a smile. She wasted no time in getting to her room and changing out of her school uniform. She could hardly wait for her friends to arrive.

**xxx**

"Here we are!" Lindy announced. She pulled up to the gate and pushed the intercom letting the guard on hand know of their arrival. It only took a second for the gate to beep and open up for them. It was a short drive from the front gate to the house but Fate and Alicia took this opportunity to take a look around the premises. They were looking out for anything out of the ordinary that might be a danger to them later. Alicia and Fate made eye contact for a second after surveying the area. They'd found some interesting things, but didn't feel like it'd become too much of a problem as long as they behaved themselves around Shiro. The car came to a stop. Lindy put the car in park so she could turn to talk to the twins one last time.

"Are you girls ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Alicia looked towards the house. She raised an eye brow at the two snipers she spotted. Shiro really wasn't taking any chances considering she and Fate found two others in the yard under the cover of the bushes.

"I know this must be overwhelming, but I know you can do this. Just like you've overcoming your hardships at school, you'll also prevail over whatever Shiro throws at you."

"We won't let you down." Fate opened the door to the car and was about to step out but stopped. She turned back to Lindy and looked long and hard at her adopted mother.

"Is something wrong? " Lindy was unsure of why Fate was staring so hard.

Then, to her shock, Fate suddenly hugged her. She'd been so stunned she didn't even hug back. Alicia was surprised too but thought it couldn't hurt to follow Fate's lead. As soon as Fate pulled away she moved in for a hug of her own. Lindy was able to regain her sense and hugged Alicia back.

"Bye, Lindy-san." Fate then hopped out the door.

"We'll see you tomorrow." Alicia said as well before leaving the car.

Lindy smiled, trying not to become too emotional.

"See you tomorrow girls."

The twins waved as Lindy pulled away before entering the house. Lindy wiped away a stray tear. This had been the first time they'd ever hugged her out of their own free will. They were still awkward about physical contact, but she couldn't deny that they were better about it. Where as they used to shy away from anyone's touch, they now allowed it to happen and, if they were comfortable, they'd initiate it. They were growing and she was glad to know that she was there to watch them blossom into amazing women.

Fate and Alicia stood in front of the door to the Takamachi's house, unsure of what to do next. They figured it would probably be a good idea to knock so that they would look less suspicious by standing there.

"Welcome to our home!"

The twins were startled by the sudden appearance of a woman they recognized as Momoko Takamachi. How she'd been able to sneak up behind them, they weren't sure and it was slightly disconcerting. They watched the woman carefully. She looked harmless, but they had a feeling she could probably match them blow for blow should she need to. Everyone in this family was hiding something, they were sure of that.

"Well don't just stand there. Please, come inside." Momoko opened the door for them and motioned for them to step through. The twins did as they were told and followed Momoko into her home. They removed their shoes and continued into the foyer. Momoko lead them further into the house to a rather large living room. They were somewhat relieved that Shiro was nowhere in sight. They weren't expecting to avoid him the entire time they were there but it felt nice to not worry about him for the time being.

"Nanoha went upstairs to change. She'll be down in a moment. Why don't you have a seat while I get you girls something to drink?"

"Thank you." Alicia knew this was the polite thing to do. It would be rude to decline her host's gesture.

She and Fate sat down and waited quietly while Momoko left to get their drinks. The girls looked around the room to pass the time. In a way, it reminded them of their own with all the pictures the family had of various trips and activities they'd been to. Lindy had done the same to their living room. They remembered when they first arrived they wondered why Lindy was so into taking pictures of them. Then as they slowly watched their walls fill up with pictures or themselves, they realized that their adopted mother was trying to make them feel like part of something. It was odd at first, but they'd gotten used to it and they had to admit that they did feel like part of the family now thanks to Lindy's tireless work to make them understand what it meant.

With no visible danger around them, Alicia and Fate got up to take a better look around. Fate ended up being drawn a particular picture sitting over the fire place. As she got closer, she realized it was a picture of Nanoha when she was younger. She was sleeping under a tree in her mother's lap. If she had to guess, she's say the auburn haired girl was around nine or ten years old. She looked almost the same with the exception of the twin tails. Fate recalled that, at one point, she too wore her hair in a similar fashion when she was that age.

"I hope you girls don't mind tea." Momoko walked through into the room. She spotted Fate looking at the picture of Nanoha and smiled to herself. "I see you've found a picture of Nanoha."

Fate nodded at the older woman's question. An evil glint appeared in Momoko's eyes.

"Nanoha has always been an adorable child, but I have something far more adorable than that picture."

Momoko placed the tray with their drink down on the coffee table and left the room again. It didn't take her long to return with a book in her hand. She sat on the couch and began flipping through the book. Curious, Fate and Alicia each took a seat beside Momoko and watched her flip through various pages. She came to a stop at a page labeled "Nanoha 1 year old".

"See? My daughter has always been rather cute."

Fate found herself agreeing with Momoko's statement. Even she had to admit the pictures of a baby Nanoha sleeping were heartwarming.

"Mom! What are you doing!"

In a flash, the album in Momoko's hands was snatched away from them. A red faced Nanoha pouted at her mother.

"Oh my, did you perhaps want to show Fate-chan your baby pictures? I'm sorry for robbing you of this opportunity."

"That's not why I'm upset!"

Momoko smirked. "Ah, but I'm sure Fate-chan found them to be rather cute. Wouldn't you say Fate-chan?"

Finding herself suddenly caught in the mother and daughter argument, she looked between Momoko, who was smiling from what she caused, and Nanoha, who looked about ready to pass out from all the blushing she was doing. She looked to Alicia for some direction but was met with a blank stare meaning Alicia was just as lost in what to do in this type of situation. Deciding on a course of action, Fate picked something that would hopefully not offend anyone.

"I need to use the restroom." Fate looked to Nanoha hoping she would get the message.

Nanoha looked at her oddly for a few seconds wondering why she'd told her specifically, but then understood what the blonde assassin was trying to do.

"Ah, let me show you where it is!"

Fate stood up and followed Nanoha as she fled the room with the album in hand. Alicia breathed in relief that nothing bad had come out of that exchange.

"Your sister is rather cute as well, Alicia-chan."

"Ah, thank you…." Alicia wasn't sure where Momoko was going with this.

"I wonder if your reactions are just as cute."

Alicia shivered. For the first time in her life, she cursed her sister for leaving her alone with Momoko Takamachi.

"Nanoha?" Fate questioned the girl who was walking silently in front of her. "Are you alright?"

Nanoha stopped walking. Fate hoped this wasn't a bad sign.

"I'm sorry." Nanoha whispered.

Frowning, Fate moved in front of the auburn haired girl. She was clutching the album to her chest, her head bowed. The blonde could still see a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"For acting like such a child over some pictures."

Fate tilted her head to one side. Was Nanoha embarrassed from the pictures? If that was the case then she needed to ease her mind of the matter. It was only right for her to do so.

"I though, Nanoha was cute."

The auburn haired girls head shot up. She stared wide-eyed at Fate, her blush getting darker by the second.

"There is nothing to be ashamed about." Fate added hoping this would help. For good measure, she figured hugging her would not hurt either. It was a good way to reassure someone. Lindy always told them as much So, without hesitating further, she pulled the blushing girl to her. Nanoha could do nothing but melt into the blondes embrace. Silently, she thanked her mom for bringing out the album. If it hadn't been for her, she wouldn't have had this moment with Fate.

"Ahem."

Fate and Nanoha pulled away from each other. Fate stepped a bit further away from Nanoha after realizing who it was that joined them in the hall.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Shiro said as he glared at the blonde assassin.

**xxx**

"Enjoying yourself?"

"I can't complain about the peace and quiet." Precia smirked. She couldn't see who her visitor was but she knew that voice anywhere. "Should you be visiting me?"

"I spoke with Panther a few hours ago."

"Ah, how is she now a days?"

"The same as ever."

"Good. I need her to keep doing what she's doing."

"Which is all well and fine, but do you realize you're the one causing problems?" Sniper knew Panther would frown upon the conversation they were having especially after she'd said to leave Precia to do what she wanted.

"Oh? How so?"

"Lindy Harlaown."

Precia chuckled. So that's what this was about. She imagined that Linith had no problem with her actions but wasn't surprised that her visitor had a problem with the way she was handling her job.

"You should loosen up a bit Sniper."

"You're jeopardizing the plan."

"In what way?"

"You keep telling her unnecessary things."

"I don't expect you to know the extent of my plan, Sniper, so I ask that you kindly keep out of my business."

Precia heard a growl.

"I'm putting myself at risk because I believe in your plan yet you're doing as you please? I don't see how you think I can just stand by and allow you to continue as you are."

"Sniper." Precia's voice lost all hint of its playfulness. "All you need to worry about it playing your part without getting caught. Anything beyond that is not your concern. We told you before didn't we? No negative repercussions will befall you if you just play your part. Do not question my methods again."

A tense silence fell upon them.

"Very well, I will speak no more on the subject."

Precia heard footsteps echo and disappear. That was one problem taken care of. Now all she had to do was wait for Lindy Harlaown to come to her and she was sure the green haired woman would seek her out. If she was right, then she wouldn't have to wait much longer.

**xxx**

Shiro, Fate and Nanoha returned to the living to find a very happy looking Momoko and a red faced Alicia sitting on the opposite couch doing everything to not look at the woman sitting across from her. Fate, in an effort to put some distance between herself and Shiro, joined her sister on the other couch.

"Alicia?" Fate's unasked question was evident to the older twin.

"I do not want to talk about it."

That only made Fate want to know what happened even more, but she was going to respect her sister's wishes. It must've been pretty bad if Alicia didn't want to discuss it with her. Nanoha had been about to sit next to Fate but Shiro's firm grip on her arm made sure she didn't. Instead she was forced to sit with her parents across from the twins. Alicia sat up straight upon noticing that Shiro would be joining them. The girls sat in an awkward silence with Shiro there. They weren't sure how to act around him when all he was doing was glaring at them. At least Momoko made them feel welcomed with her cheery personality.

The tense silence was broken with a ring of the doorbell.

"I better go see who that is." Momoko smiled reassuring at the twins before fixing her husband with a glare that said he better not do anything while she was gone. Much to the twin's relief, it seemed like Shiro was indeed rather whipped by his wife.

It didn't take long before Momoko came back with new guests.

"Hi guys! We're here!"

"Hayate-chan!" Nanoha stood up to greet the short brunette.

"Hey," Hayate whispered once Nanoha was close enough. "What's with the scary guards outside?"

"Daddy's being paranoid again." Nanoha whispered back.

"Then let's make him less paranoid."

Before Nanoha could as how she planned on doing that, Hayate stepped around her and set her eyes on a certain blonde assassin.

"Alicia-chan!"

Alicia looked in Hayate's direction. The sparkle in those blue eyes made her nervous. She had a feeling Hayate was going to do something she wasn't going to like. Hayate practically ran to the blonde and threw her arms around the girl. Shiro watched in horror as Alicia fell back on the couch under Hayate's weight. He quickly stood up ready to grab Hayate and pull her to safety blonde but stopped when he noticed that Alicia hadn't even moved a muscle as Hayate continued to lie on top of her.

"What are you doing?" Alicia asked. There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Greeting you." Hayate answered back cheerfully.

"Please stop."

"But it wouldn't be any fun if I did."

Alicia was spared any further teasing thanks to Reinforce dragging her mistress off the annoyed assassin. Alicia sat up, a frown on her lips.

"Rein-chan!" Hayate struggled slightly. "Just let me hug her a bit longer!"

"Please don't release her." Alicia hoped that Reinforce would listen to her request. She and Reinforce weren't friends per say but she'd been around the silver haired girl enough seeing as she always found herself in the company of Hayate whether she liked it or not.

The doorbell rang once again.

"It's so good to have so many guests over." Momoko quickly left to answer the door once again.

Fate scooted over on the couch to allow Vita, Reinforce and Hayate to sit. Reinforce and Vita made sure they sat between Hayate and Alicia to keep their mistress from making more trouble for herself. Hayate though had not given up and was sprawled out over both her body guards' laps in a futile attempt to reach the blonde assassin.

"Alicia-chan…" Hayate whined her arm stretched out towards the blonde.

Alicia ignored the whining girl and instead drank some of the tea that Momoko had so thoughtfully brought out for them.

"We're here!" Carim, followed by Suzuka and Arisa, joined them in the living room.

"It's good to see you guys made it." Nanoha hugged the three girls. She'd actually been worried that perhaps their parents wouldn't have allowed them to join them seeing how her own father had strong reservations about the twins being there.

"What's with all the scary guards outside?" Arisa asked loudly.

"For protection." Shiro answered her.

"Like we need any more protection with those two around." Arisa pointed at the twins. "They could probably take an army out on their own."

"We're not capable of bringing down an army." Alicia answered simply.

"At least not without proper planning." Fate finished.

Everyone stared at the twins like they'd grown an extra set of limbs. Then, Hayate burst out into laughter. The rest of the girls soon followed. Shiro was not amused what so ever and resolved to just glare harder at the twins only because his wife was throwing him glares that kept him saying anything inappropriate. Fate and Alicia weren't sure what was so funny and opted to keep drinking their teas like nothing was wrong.

"Sounds like everyone is having a good time in here." Miyuki walked into the room with the rest of the family. She couldn't remember the last time she saw their house so alive with guests.

Carim stopped laughing and stared at the beauty that walked into the room. For a moment she forgot how to breathe.

"Guys, this is my older sister Miyuki." Nanoha introduced her sister. "Kyouya, my brother, is around here somewhere. He'll probably be joining us for dinner."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Miyuki smiled.

"The pleasure's all mine." Carim found herself saying. Hayate snorted, trying not to laugh at her friend. Carim turned a shade of pink and glared at Hayate. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

"Well, since everyone is here, why don't we start dinner?" Momoko asked.

Everyone agreed and followed the older woman to the dining room. Fate and Alicia tried to sit as far away as possible from Shiro but since Nanoha wanted to sit close to them, Shiro was always just there. After playing musical chairs for the better part of five minutes, Momoko had enough and dragged Shiro to his normal seat at the head of the table. She then let the girls have free rein to choose their seats. Nanoha wasted no time in claiming the seat next to Fate and Hayate claimed the one next to Alicia. Miyuki sat to the left of her father and Carim next to her. Reinforce, Vita, Arisa, and Suzuka took whatever seats remained on both sides of the table. Two spots were still left for which, everyone assumed was for Nanoha's brother and his body guard.

"Wow, we have a full house today." Kyouya walked in with Shinobu.

"Nanoha's friends are all having a sleep over today." Momoko smiled.

"Welcome everyone. I'm Kyouya, Nanoha's big brother. This is Shinobu, my body guard."

"You mean your girlfriend." Miyuki teased.

"S-shut up!" Kyouya blushed and sat down.

"Ah, I didn't know you were dating anyone sis." Suzuka looked over at her sister with a grin. "Do our parents know?"

"Suzuka…." Shinobu growled.

"Ah, Shinobu-san is your older sister right Suzuka-chan?" Nanoha asked.

"That's right. Speaking of which, mom and dad say hi and that you need to visit more often."

"I'll do what I can."

Dinner went off without a hitch. There was much teasing done between Hayate and Suzuka towards Carim and Shinobu respectively. Fate and Alicia had planned not to talk much during dinner but their friends refused to leave them out of any conversation. Carim easily pulled Alicia into a discussion about a new gun she'd been testing for a manufacturer. This put off Hayate a bit seeing as Alicia wasn't as easily lured into conversation by her. Nanoha was finding she was having a similar problem with the way Fate and Suzuka so easily talked about their choice of weapons. It didn't help matters when Shinobu joined in the conversation since she favored that type of weapon as well. As dinner wore on though, Nanoha found that the twins were a lot more relaxed and Fate even started talking to her on her own. Hayate was pleased to find that she was also brought into conversation by Alicia which she decided not to ruin by teasing the blonde.

With dinner done, the girls thanked Momoko for the meal and headed up to Nanoha's room so their sleep over could actually being. Momoko looked to Shiro after the girls left.

"Well, are you still worried?"

Shiro said nothing and crossed his arms over his chest in thought.

"I think you worried unnecessarily." Miyuki added. "They were pretty tamed the entire time and they even put up with any teasing thrown their way. Alicia especially seeing as Hayate-chan can be merciless sometimes."

"They're no danger to us dad." Kyouya agreed with his sister. "They did seem rather tense at the beginning of dinner but that was because you'd been glaring at them the entire time. After a while though, they got comfortable and seemed rather nice to me. Awkward maybe, but that's normal."

Shiro sighed in defeat.

"I concede that they haven't done anything to warrant the snipers I hired, but they still need to prove to me that I can trust them."

His children smiled as did his wife. It was an improvement over him not wanting them in his home at all.

"Ah, Miyuki-san?"

Their attention was brought over to Carim who'd returned from Nanoha's room.

"Yes?"

"Umm," Carim cleared her throat. They heard snickering coming from the hall and could only assume the girls were spying on their friend. Carim turned and glared towards the hall before turning back with a nervous smile. "Ah, we're going to be watching scary movies so I was wondering if you wanted to join us?"

Miyuki smiled at the flustered blonde girl. It was rather cute of her to invite her to join them.

"I'd love to. I'll be up in a bit."

Carim smiled. "Great! Ah, I- We'll be waiting!"

Carim rushed off. They heard the tell-tale signs of laughter and Carim threatening her friends for laughing at her. Momoko giggled.

"Looks like someone has a crush you."

"M-mom!"

"Ah, my daughters are growing up so fast!"

Shiro groaned. Now another blonde was after his daughter, his only consolation was that this one wasn't an assassin. Being a father to two girls was stressful.

**xxx**

Miyuki arrived in Nanoha's room to find the girls were all sprawled out on the floor, snacks in hand, trying to pick out a movie to watch. There were various cases littering the ground but two seemed to be the ones the girls were debating on.

"Zombies!" Hayate exclaimed. "They're the best kind of horror movies to watch."

"No one thinks zombies are scary!" Arisa countered. "If anything ghosts are scarier."

"Ghosts are not that scary." Hayate snorted.

"How about this one?" Nanoha held up a different movie case. "It's about an alien that shape shifts into the person it kills."

"Hmm, I guess I'd be willing to give it a shot." Hayate said. "I don't think I've seen that one any way."

"Fine." Arisa also agreed. "Better than watching a zombie movie."

"Zombie movies are the best and you know it!" Hayate and Arisa soon began their argument again.

"Haha, they've been arguing about this for a while." Carim said to Miyuki.

"Who knew Hayate-chan was such a zombie fan though."

"I know right? Umm, want to sit next to me? Uh, I mean it's the only spot left so if you don't want to I can always…."

"It's fine Carim-chan." Miyuki giggled. "I don't mind sitting next to you."

Miyuki wondered how much cuter Carim could be. Everyone got comfortable while Nanoha put the movie in. Nanoha turned off the lights in the room for added effect. She then went to take her place next to Fate who was watching the screen with interest. She and Alicia never really watched any movies except when they had movie nights with Lindy, Amy, and Chrono but those were far between what with Lindy, Chrono and Amy's varying schedules. They didn't mind though considering they preferred to open up a good book. The opening credits rolled by followed by the movie title. The opening scene of the movie was of a helicopter chasing a dog. A man then began shooting at the dog as it ran through the snow.

"Aww, that poor dog." Nanoha lamented.

"Why would he do such a thing!" Arisa was a big dog lover and hated when anything bad happened to them whether that be in real life of in movies. "Run boy run!" she cheered for the dog.

The dog made it to a campsite. The people in the helicopter landed and were about to throw a grenade but it slipped out of the man's hands and into the snow. The helicopter pilot tried to find it and throw it farther but it exploded killing him and destroying the helicopter. The man with the gun then turned to the people who had come out to see the commotion and said something in Norwegian before continuing his assault on the dog. Eventually, one of the other men on the base shot and killed the man.

"Yay! The dog lived!" Arisa cheered.

"I wonder what he was saying." Suzuka asked.

"He said to get away from that thing. It's not a dog but some sort of thing intimidating a dog. Then he called them idiots." Fate answered.

Everyone looked at the blonde girl.

"You speak Norwegian?" Vita asked.

"I know a lot of languages." Fate answered simply.

"So, how about we watch another movie?" Hayate asked her friends.

"Why?" Alicia asked. "This movie just started."

"Yeah but I think Fate just spoiled the rest of the movie."

"Were we not supposed to know that part yet?" Fate asked.

"I'm pretty sure they were going to reveal that later in the movie." Suzuka giggled.

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"It's okay Fate-chan. You didn't know." Nanoha reassured the blonde.

Arisa got up and changed the movie out to the one she wanted. It was about a boy in a coma who was being haunted by evil spirits. Fate, Alicia, and Reinforce didn't find it particularly scary but the rest of their friends did. Nanoha had been glued to Fate's arm for most of the movie but the blonde didn't mind and allowed the auburn haired girl to use her as a giant teddy bear. Hayate wasn't that scared and was using this more as an excuse to try to latch onto Alicia but the blonde was not letting her have her way. Alicia kept her at bay for most of the movie, but when she noticed that Hayate was genuinely scared during certain scenes, she held the brunettes hand to which Hayate would then hug Alicia's arm. Over all they had fun watching the movie. Nanoha brought out several board games that they decided would fun to do after Alicia and Fate revealed they'd never played one before. It soon got late enough that Miyuki was going to retire to her room but Carim invited her to spend the night with them in Nanoha's room. Seeing no reason to refuse, Miyuki agreed and left to get changed into her pajamas.

The rest of the girls soon followed and got ready for bed as well. It was rather late and that last game of Monopoly they played got rather competitive when Hayate and Alicia were the last two left in the game without going bankrupt.

"Alright I'm turning off the lights!" Nanoha announced.

"Okay!" everyone else answered.

Nanoha had been thinking about sleeping on her bed, but the chance to sleep next to Fate had been too tempting. She lay down next to the girl who was already drifting off. Nanoha's own eyes were becoming heavy, but she resolved to stay awake long enough to see Fate's sleeping face. She tried to anyway, but she soon followed the blonde into dreamland.

"_Wake up Fate-chan."_

"_Hmm?"_

_Fate was sure she'd just fallen asleep so why did she have to get up already?_

"_You're going to be late for work if you don't."_

_Work? Fate didn't have a job. Her only job was going to school._

"_Is Fate-mama not waking up?"_

"_Fate-mama is being stubborn this morning."_

_Fate slowly opened her eyes. Nanoha and a little girl were leaning over her._

"_You're awake Fate-mama!"_

"_Mmm, I'm awake." Fate sat up and stretched._

"_Breakfast will be ready soon." Nanoha smiled. "So hurry and get dressed okay?"_

_Fate nodded wordlessly._

"_Are you still asleep Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked noticing the dazed look the blonde Enforcer was giving her._

"_Ah, maybe."_

"_Then let me help you wake up."_

_Nanoha cupped Fate's cheeks and pressed her lips to Fate's. Vivio rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room._

"_Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama are always so lovey dovey right Chris?" she asked her device. The little bunny nodded in response._

"_Are you awake now?" Nanoha asked._

_Fate took one of Nanoha's hands in her own and kissed the gold band on her ring finger. They had been married for a whole year now. She'd made sure to get this day off in order to properly celebrate it with her wife._

"_I think I need another one, just to be sure." Fate answered._

_Nanoha giggled. "I guess I can spoil you today. Happy anniversary Fate-chan."_

_Fate smiled. "Happy anniversary Nanoha."_

"Sshhh, you'll wake them up!"

"Then hurry up and take the picture!"

Fate mumbled something. What was going on?

"I got it!"

Fate opened her eyes. She was surprised to find that Nanoha's sleeping face was the first thing that greeted her.

"Good morning Fate-chan!" Hayate grinned.

Fate spared her audience a look before directing her gaze back to Nanoha. Why were they sleeping so close to each other? Fate tried to pull away but that only caused Nanoha to snuggle closer.

Carim giggled. "We're going down to get breakfast. You guys take your time!"

Hayate grabbed Alicia who'd been silently watching her sister like she was some sort of zoo animal on display. With everyone gone, Fate felt herself grow nervous at just how close Nanoha was to her. She knew she needed to wake up the sleeping girl. Shiro would come looking for them soon once he noticed they weren't among their friends at breakfast.

"Nanoha?" Fate gently nudged the other girl. "Wake up."

"Mmm, just five more minutes."

"I need you to wake up."

Nanoha groaned but slowly opened her eyes. They widened as she realized what kind of position she was in. Nanoha quickly pushed herself away from Fate.

"I'm so sorry Fate-chan!"

"It's okay."

The two sat looking at each other awkwardly before Fate suggested they join their friends at breakfast. Nanoha nodded in agreement. The two girls got ready in silence. Fate was not enjoying this silence. She may not be much of a talker but Nanoha being so silent was unnerving. She disliked hearing some people talk, but she found Nanoha's voice to be pleasant.

"Nanoha?" Fate stopped her walk to the dining room.

"Yes?"

Fate walked to the girl and held her hand in her own. Nanoha looked surprised by her actions.

"EH? F-Fate-chan?"

"I don't dislike you."

"What?"

"This morning, I'm not upset about it so don't worry. Okay?"

Nanoha smiled and squeezed back. The two joined everyone else at breakfast. Fate was relieved that Shiro wasn't glaring at her or Alicia this time. Breakfast turned out to be a much more enjoyable affair.

"So what do you girls have planned for today?" Momoko asked.

"We're going to the mall." Suzuka answered.

"Eh? When did we decide this?" Nanoha asked.

"While we waited for you guys." Carim answered this time. "We figured that Fate-chan and Alicia-chan don't go out a lot so why not go to the mall?"

With that decided, they finished their breakfast and waited out front for Shiro to bring around two SUV's that would be taking them to the mall. The girls quickly clamored into the vehicles once they pulled up, they were eager to do some shopping with the twins. Upon arriving at the mall, their driver's, who were hired by Nanoha's dad, left which surprised them. They thought for sure Shiro wouldn't want to leave them alone with the twins. They saw this as a good sign. Perhaps Shiro had a change of heart about the girl? They could only hope. Fate and Alicia though, weren't so easily convinced of this. Within a few minutes of walking around, the twins spotted some odd people around the mall. Shiro obviously hadn't planned to leave them to their own devices. The twins though weren't surprised nor were they offended that Shiro had people tailing them. It was the smart thing to do and they couldn't blame him. The twins ignored them for the most part and concentrated on enjoying themselves with their friends.

"Let's go pick out a new outfit for them!" Hayate suggested.

"But I already have plenty of clothes." Alicia said.

"You can never have too many clothes." Hayate lead the group as they journeyed through the mall.

Along the way, they took some detours and looked around other stores. Arisa bought a new video game for herself and was so scandalized that the twins had never touched a console that she bought a brand new one for them to play. The twins tried to refuse her very generous gift but Arisa would hear none of it. They accepted the gift and promised Arisa that they'd play the system and let her know what they thought. They continued on until Nanoha spotted a photo booth. It didn't take long for Hayate and the others to agree that they needed to take pictures in order to commemorate their very first time hanging out. Somehow, they ended up fitting everyone, including Reinforce and Vita in the small booth. After their group photo, they each took turns taking pictures with whomever else they wanted. Fate and Alicia waited patiently while everyone else had their fun. Fate was looking off to the side, at nothing really, when she noticed something was off. The guys that had been tailing them were no longer around.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha brought her attention to her. "Let's take one together."

Fate nodded. Before she did though, she made eye contact with Alicia. Tilting her head in the direction she'd been looking at, Alicia got the message and nodded.

"We're going next Alicia-chan." Hayate latched onto Alicia's arm.

"Mmm." Was the blonde's simple response while she scanned the area. She quickly picked up on what Fate had been trying to tell her. It was not a good sign the team tailing them was suddenly gone. Looking around more, she tried to spot anything else might be out of place. Fate and Nanoha came out of the booth moments later.

"Let's go!" Hayate quickly pulled her along.

The girls eventually continued on their way to a clothing store. Fate and Alicia stayed behind the group looking absently at everything around them. At least it looked like they were looking around in wonder. They were, in fact, trying to figure out why it seemed like the crowds were thinning out as they walked further along the mall. Something was wrong and they needed to figure it out fast. The last thing they wanted was for their friends to get hurt.

"Can we stop by a furniture store?" Fate suddenly asked.

"Huh? Sure I don't see why not." Hayate responded. "I think there's one over that way."

"What are you guys looking for?" Suzuka joined them at the back of the group. She'd noticed the twins were looking around but not in a tourist kind of way.

"A book case." Alicia answered. She was slightly surprised that Suzuka had picked up on her and Fate's odd behavior considering that she and Fate had been as inconspicuous as possible about their actions. They hadn't wanted to alarm them for no reason.

"Ah, you guys do read a lot of books don't you? You must have a big collection." Carim joined them. Suzuka had made her aware that something was going on but neither she nor the twins it seemed were sure what it was quite yet. Reinforce and Vita caught wind of something as well though and had placed themselves strategically around Nanoha, Hayate and Arisa.

"There's the store!" Carim jogged ahead of them with Suzuka. They'd wanted to get there first to survey the area. The others joined them at a display of a bedroom.

"Ah! I remember when I use to want my room to look like the displays." Hayate walked over to it to look around.

"I used to be the same way." Nanoha commented as she looked around with Hayate. "Seems kind of silly now doesn't it?"

"Get them down!" Alicia suddenly yelled.

Reinforce quickly grabbed Hayate and took her to the floor. Vita did the same with Nanoha while Suzuka took care of Arisa. Gun fire filled the store as Fate and Alicia ran across the store hoping to draw the gun fire away from their friends. They had been right; this had something to do with them. The flipped over tables and whatever else they could use as cover in order to give them time to figure out where the assailants were. The gun fire stopped momentarily, probably so they could reload and advance on them. Carim joined the twins.

"What's the plan?"

"We are going to draw their gun fire; you stay with the others and find a way to escape." Alicia answered.

"No."

"We have no time to argue." Fate snapped.

"I'm not going to leave you two to put yourselves in danger again while I do nothing. I'm going to help whether you like it or not."

"No time to fight about this." Suzuka joined them. "Let's work together and get out of here in one piece."

The twins didn't like it but they had no choice but to agree.

"Alright," Alicia brought out a gun she'd always had on herself in case of emergencies. She never felt comfortable being without a gun and after the whole school incident she was inclined to never be without one again. Similarly, Fate had some small knives on her as well. She handed a few over to Alicia. Lucky for them, Carim and Suzuka were also carrying around weapons of their own. It seemed like they weren't the only ones who were being overly cautions now a days. "Fate and I are going to draw their gun fire. We don't know how many there are but we need to figure out how many we're up against so we can take them out." she handed her gun to Suzuka "Can you handle one of these?"

"I'm insulted that you think I can't."

"Provide cover fire for Fate and me. We'll move in and take them out as soon as we know the numbers we're up against."

"Let's do this." Carim cocked her gun.

Nodding, Fate and Alicia ran in opposite directions and drew the gun fire to them. Fate counted five guys with automatic guns advancing on them in the store. She and Alicia took cover again. She held up five fingers for Alicia, Carim, and Suzuka to see. Alicia held up five in turn meaning it was only those five attacking them. For what purpose though? Fate knew for sure they weren't from The Guild so who were they. What did they want? There would be plenty of time to find those answers out once they captured them. Alicia signaled to Fate their assault plan. With Vita and Reinforce looking after Arisa, Nanoha, and Hayate, the four of them would concentrate on taking out the five assailants. Vita and Reinforce could be providing cover fire from their spots as Fate and Alicia advanced on their prey. Fate gave the okay. Alicia held up three fingers for them all to see. The countdown was beginning.

Three.

Two.

One.

**xxx**

Shiro slammed the phone down. He'd lost contact with the team he'd sent to the mall with the girls. He'd been on the phone with the captain of his team when suddenly their conversation was cut short. From what he could make out, there was a struggle before the phone went dead. He was too far away to reach the mall in time with another team to investigate the matter. He didn't want to think the worst had happened but that's the only thing that was running though his mind. Picking the phone back up again, he quickly dialed another number.

"_Lindy speaking."_

"It's Shiro."

"_Shiro-san, what can I do for you?"_

"We have a problem. The team I sent to monitor the girls while they were out has gone silent."

Lindy knew that a team going silent was never a good thing.

"_Any clues as to why?"_

"No, but it sounds like there was a struggle before I lost contact."

"_I'll mobilize my unit at once."_

"I'm on my way as well."

"_Don't worry Shiro-san. They'll be okay."_

Shiro hung up and quickly got himself ready to head out. Time was of the essence.

**xxx**

"Arg!"

One of the men went down from Fate slamming his head into a wall. With Carim, Suzuka, Vita, and Reinforce giving her cover fire, she was able to get close enough to engage them in close combat. Alicia was finding it be easier as well. Fate grabbed a nearby lamp and threw it at her next target. She quickly rushed at the temporarily stunned man. He pointed his gun at Fate blindly with the intent to shoot her, but Carim shot first hitting his hand. He dropped the gun allowing Fate to smash his face with her fist. Picking up the discarded weapon, Fate assisted Alicia by incapacitating the remaining men for her knock out.

An eerie silence befell them as the last assailant fell by Alicia's hand. Fate, Alicia, Suzuka, and Carim gathered around the entrance where the fallen assailants laid. Fate and Alicia looked over them trying to find any sort of identification that would help them figure out who might have sent them. Their investigation was cut short when a loud bang rang through the store. It'd come from somewhere in the back.

"The back entrance!" Fate and Alicia exclaimed before quickly running toward the back with Suzuka and Carim right on their tail. Their progress was halted when smoke bombs were set off.

"Crap, I can't see anything!" Carim coughed.

"You two head back to Reinforce and the others!" Fate yelled to Suzuka and Carim. "We'll take care of things here!"

Fate ripped off a piece of cloth from her shirt to make a make shift bandanna. This hadn't been her first fight in this type of situation but Carim and Suzuka had no experience.

"Kill anyone who gets in the way!" a voice yelled. "Just make sure you grab Takamachi and Yagami!"

"Vita! Reinforce!" Fate yelled. She'd though for sure they were after them but now that they knew that wasn't the case, they needed to readjust their strategy. "Take them and run!"

Since they'd been able to clear the front, then they should have no problems escaping. At least Fate had hoped that would be the case.

"Shit!" Vita screamed. "There were still more in the front!"

That wasn't good. They'd sent the first five guys in to test the waters against them. They needed to regroup and find a way to escape, or at least get everyone else to safety.

"They took them! They took Hayate, Nanoha and Arisa" Reinforce suddenly yelled.

Fate's blood froze. They'd cornered them and now they took Nanoha, Hayate and Arisa. Why Arisa though? She thought they were only after Hayate and Nanoha. Whatever restraints she'd placed on herself during this fight were discarded in that instant. Nothing mattered now except getting her friends back safely. Running past all the gun fire, Fate found the source of the smoke and kicked the canister into a far corner of the store hoping to make the area clearer for her to take out her targets. Alicia had the same idea and had done the same to clear another area. With things more visible, Fate and Alicia wasted no time in taking out everything that stood in their way. Bullets grazed them but they paid the small scrapes no mind.

"Arg!" one of the assailants fell to the floor after Alicia shot him in the leg. He'd watched his team got taken down by two girls. Two! Alicia walked calmly closer to him. The man tried to get up and run on his one good leg, but Alicia was having none of it. She shot his other leg. The man fell to the floor but continued to try to escape by crawling away. The blonde assassin slammed her foot down on the man's back, effectively stopping him.

"P-please! D-don't kill me! I'm sorry!"

Alicia didn't grace him with an answer and shot him in the head. Having cleared her area she ran to the front of the store with the intent to pursue the people who took Hayate. Fate ripped the cloth off her face and joined her sister to help rescue their friends. They ran past Carim and Suzuka who tried to get them to wait as well as Reinforce and Vita wanting to regroup before heading out but the two assassins had other plans. One they didn't want to involve the other girl's in. They weren't out to subdue anyone. They were out for blood. Something they doubted the other girls would take part in. It probably hadn't even occurred to them yet that they'd killed almost everyone that was involved in the second assault.

The twins rounded a corner only to bump into Nanoha, Hayate, and Arisa. The trance the blondes had been in disappeared as they looked at the girls that had been taken.

"Fate-chan! Oh no, your bleeding!" Nanoha quickly sat the up and fussed over the blonde girl who could only look at her like she'd seen a ghost. Nanoha was going to wipe away the blood from the wound on Fate's cheek she received while dodging bullets, when Fate suddenly grabbed the auburn haired girl and hugged her tightly.

"You're alright."

"But how?" Alicia asked Hayate. She was baffled how they'd been able to escape. Their assailants had been professionals, there was no way a normal civilian could have handled them.

"Ah, well let's just say there's more to me than meets the eye." Hayate winked.

Alicia pulled Hayate to her. The brunette's eyes widened.

"I'm glad you're alright."

Hayate hugged her back, relishing in the fact that Alicia hugged her for a change. It's a shame it couldn't have been under better circumstances but there would be other chances in the future.

"Alicia! Fate!" Carim came to a halt along with the rest of their friends. "You saved them!"

"No." Alicia pulled away from Hayate. "We didn't do anything."

"We took care of them." Arisa grunted. "They let their guards down thinking we were helpless."

Suzuka pulled her blonde friend into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

Arisa hugged her friend back, knowing how scared she must've been to hear they'd been taken. The kidnappers hadn't meant to take her too but with all the smoke and confusion, they'd grabbed all three. Carim and Vita walked a bit further down to make sure they were clear for sure this time. The two girls rounded a corner and found four of the kidnappers on the ground unconscious.

"Holy…. The three of them did this?" Carim whistled.

"I don't know about Takamachi and Bannings, but Hayate-chan has had self-defense training."

"What kind of training?"

"The tough kind."

"Hmm, something tells me Nanoha-chan and Arisa-chan had the tough kind of training as well."

They returned to their friends and waited for the police to find them. It was highly likely that all the gun fire had scared plenty of people into calling the police.

**xxx**

"Hmm, impressive as ever."

Linith took a bite of her candy bar as she lowered her binoculars. She'd watched the entire fight from her spot across the street. She had to admit that even though they'd been somewhat domesticated, the twins were still as deadly as ever although she was surprised that they'd resisted killing the assailants for as long as they did. That fact alone was more impressive than if they had killed everyone. They were different than before, that was for sure.

"So, those are the infamous Testarossa Twins."

"They're Harlaown now." Linith turned to the person who'd suddenly joined her.

"They'll always be Testarossa in The Guilds eyes."

"I suppose that's true." She wordlessly handed over her binoculars to the girl. "Their training will always give away who taught them."

The girl, who had short brown hair, clicked her tongue. She focused her binoculars on Nanoha and Hayate. She'd been very surprised that the two girls had been able to fend off armed assailants. Their records showed nothing about them being this skilled. It was one thing to hear that they had some basic training, but to see them actually handle themselves so well in the mists of battle, well it was certainly unexpected. It just went to show you that the proper training made all the difference.

"This assignment just got more complicated."

"Perhaps but thanks to this failed kidnapping, we'll be able to properly plan ahead."

Laguna handed the binoculars back over to Linith.

"I can't believe we're going through so much trouble for just two girls."

Linith chuckled. "There's more to everything than what is on the surface."

"So when will I know what lies beyond the surface?"

"All in due time my dear."

"Security reasons?"

"Exactly, the less that people know the less of a chance it'll be compromised."

"I suppose I'll just have to place my faith in you."

"Your faith is much appreciated." Linith patted the girls head. She did not take kindly to this action and scowled at the older woman.

"When are you going to stop treating me like a child?"

"Don't be so cold to me Laguna-chan."

"And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me by name, especially when we're on the field."

"Would you prefer I called you by your other nickname?"

"That one is even worse."

"Then I'll stick with Chameleon-chan."

"Try to do so from now on."

"I make no promises. Now, let's get out of here. There's nothing else to see."

Nodding, Laguna followed Linith as she made her way to the edge of the building. They stood side by side before dropping down from the edge. Seconds later, a team of agents burst through the door of the building that led to roof. They'd been ordered to search all surrounding buildings to make sure no other accomplices tried to escape. One of the agents looked over the edge of the building only to see a balcony with a patio table and chair. Nothing else seemed out of place. He signaled to his squad leader that all was clear. One level below them, Linith and Laguna got into an elevator that would take them to the ground floor. No one even knew they were in the building.

**AN:** That's it for now folks! Were you surprised to see Laguna there at the end? Bet you weren't expecting her to be part of the Assassin's Guild. Expect more surprises to arise as the story goes. As always, I hope you enjoyed and if you did let me know. Reviews, comments, constructive criticisms, and the like are all welcomed. Until next time!


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: **Hey everyone. Long time no see. Well, maybe it wasn't that long but it felt like it. I apologize for the delay in this chapter and my writing in general. I got busy and it didn't help that a week or so ago I started playing League of Legends and World of Warcraft. Then time just sort of got away from me. Next thing I knew it was February and I hadn't updated anything. Anyway, thank you to the following who reviewed the last chapter:

**ThePanicHour, Aka Chibi-chan, kiruchi, Hyuuga-sword, Mia-n43, Nyaaaaaaah, darkvalk, Jay, koan, megamar, priest1drago, genetic-depression, trumm12345, ElementalMiko12, The Last Poison Apple, and Lotte-oc**

I saw that two of you (**kiruchi** and **Aka Chibi-chan**) guessed who Sniper was so good work you two! Not surprised that everyone is wondering what it is that The Guild is planning to do, but you'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Safe and Sound

"Sir?"

"You heard me. They will be detained and stripped of their freedom."

A figure sat at his desk sifting through reports from the latest mess involving a certain pair of blondes.

"We may not be able to do so."

"My orders will not be ignored. They will do as they are told"

"That is not the problem."

The man stopped shuffling his papers to look up at the woman standing before his desk. She was tall with short purple hair and a pair of stylish glasses.

"Go on."

"The Prime Minster has something to say on the matter."

His eye brows furrowed. "He dissuaded me the first time, but not again. I think they've made it obvious that they can't be reformed."

"He's not the only one."

"Who else?"

"Takamachi, Bannings, Tsukimura, and Gracia-Acous."

The man growled. This was the second time they'd interfered with his plans. Why did these assassins mean so much to these people? He didn't understand and frankly, he didn't really care for their reasons why. His only issue with them was the influence they wielded to back him into a corner. He hated to admit it but, those families had much more say with the government than anyone knew about. Even if he had planned to go against the Prime Minsters wishes to incarcerate the girls again, it was something else if he displeased those families as well. Like in any government, those with money could wield a lot of power if they had the right people working for them from within and those families had that. If he went against them as well, unlike the Prime Minster who had limited power, these families could make it very difficult for him to move up from his position. They might even be able to remove him from his current one. He couldn't have that. Not yet. His future plans would not be ruined just because of a couple meddlers.

Of course he had hoped this would be his chance to finally lock up the twins for good. Having them out there doing what they pleased could become an issue if they were ever got involved with The Guild again. He knew thought that Guild business was strictly kept within the Guild. There had never been an instance when those who had retired from the profession would be informed about any issues the Guild might be having at the time. This time though, things might turn out differently for them. What he was planning might force their hand and call back those they'd exiled, like Precia Testarossa and her two girls. The exile though only really held true for Precia. Normally, the Guild would have handled her as a threat and killed her. Rouge assassins were never allowed to act on their own but for some reason they hadn't stopped her, instead they let her have free reign. The Guild let her get away with things they'd never tolerate of others. Training those girls since they could walk was just one of the many rules she was allowed to break without a second thought. He wanted answers and her capture was invaluable to him. It was a setback that he couldn't contain those girls as well, but not by much. In the long run, it was more vital to make sure he didn't lose the upper hand in this situation. He looked over a file once again. Something would have to be done about them in the future. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips. That meant having to talk to a certain man. He never looked forward to those types of conversations especially with this particular person.

"You know what to do."

"Yes sir."

The woman walked out of the room to give new orders. The man pushed aside the clutter on his desk. Folding his hands on the table, he looked around his office. For many years, he'd toiled in his position attempting to do more than just hiding the government's dirty secrets. Much to his displeasure, his hard work had been unrecognized and unrewarded. He was through being the lapdog of the government. Soon, it would be they who followed his commands.

**xxx**

Nanoha looked over at Fate and Alicia's empty desks. Once again, she and the rest of her friends had been separated from the two girls. Just like they'd predicted it didn't take long before the police along with a special police force to stormed the mall and find them. After making sure that Hayate and Nanoha were okay, they proceeded to make sure that the other girls were unharmed as well. Lindy and Shiro arrived shortly after. The two parents were relieved that their children were okay, for the most part. Fate and Alicia did receive a few light wounds to which they kept protesting when Lindy began to fuss over them.

The happy atmosphere didn't last long. One of the teams investigating found the dead bodies. Fate and Alicia did not attempt to hide the fact that they had been the ones to commit the acts. They knew they'd only have more problems if they tried to hide anything so it was best to be honest about what had happened. Naturally, their friends had been shocked. They were so shocked that they could do nothing but watch as a different team escorted them out of the building, more than likely taking them into custody again.

It's been well over a week now since the whole incident. Nanoha attributed their delay in return due to the fact that, unlike the first time, they'd actually done something that worried those who gave them a chance to live normally. Nanoha didn't know how she felt about what the twins had done. It was true that they did it in order to save not only them, but the rest of their friends. She should be grateful to them, but instead she was left feeling uneasy.

After everything had been said and done, an interrogation of the captured assailants by Shiro gave them some more information on what their orders had been. He wasn't surprised to find out that they were ordered to capture Nanoha and Hayate, what he hadn't expected was their orders to kill everyone else. In his personal opinion, the girls had taken the correct course of action. Still, Nanoha had to wonder, did they feel anything when they killed those men? Or had it been such an ingrained act that it was like breathing to them? She hated herself for doubting them after they'd done everything they could to save them.

The lunch bell rang, snapping Nanoha out of her unpleasant thoughts. She was glad for the new distraction, but she didn't really feel like eating anything.

"Cheer up." Hayate stepped beside Nanoha, giving her a friendly pat on the back. "They'll be back."

Nanoha shook her head. "That's not what has me worried. I mean, it still does but…."

"But?"

"Do you think they did the right thing?"

Hayate seemed to be caught off guard with the question.

"Of course they did!" Arisa joined her two friends at Nanoha's desk. "It was them vs us! Good vs bad! Do you think those guys would've shown us any kind of mercy if the blondies hadn't stopped them?"

Arisa made another good point. Those men hadn't shown any kind of restraint as they rained bullets on them. They had truly intended to cause them harm. Why should she feel sorry for them?

"Come on, let's get to lunch." Hayate advised. She could tell Nanoha was struggling with finding an answer to her question and who could blame her? She was also having a hard time deciding if what the twins had done was indeed right. She'd thought she'd known the difference between right and wrong but many had pointed out that the killings were justified. It was self-defense. Like Arisa had said, those men had no qualms about using deadly force against them. It would stand to reason that if they had no problems doing that then neither should they. Us vs them. Good vs evil. There should be no question who was in the right. The justification was all the reason they needed.

Hayate halted her thoughts for a moment to greet Carim, Verossa, and Suzuka who were joining them for lunch. As they entered the cafeteria, they were shocked to find their usual table was surrounded by other students.

"What's going on?" Arisa looked around trying to find some reason for the sudden gathering.

"Let's find out."

The friends followed Hayate's lead as she pushed her way through the crows of students. It had been difficult, but they managed to squeeze through the human wall. They stopped in their tracks at the sight they were greeted to. Alicia and Fate sat with their food trays in front of them looking at the crowd as if they might attack them at any moment. Their muscles were tense and their hands twitched ever so slightly as if hoping a weapon would appear.

"A-Alicia?" Hayate managed to stutter.

The older blonde had never been so relieved to see her brunette stalker. She and Fate had finally been released from their prisons. It felt far more maddening this second time around to be held alone in those cold cells. All Alicia could think about was getting out and seeing Hayate again. She didn't even question why at the time. She just knew that if she could see her again then everything would be okay. The feelings she had at that moment made her believe that she'd been right. Everything that happened had been worth it. Hayate and her friends were safe. That was all she needed.

"You're back!"

Hayate flung herself at the blonde, expecting to be shoved away like she'd always been, but to her shock, Alicia did the opposite. She'd hugged her back just as fiercely.

"I'm back." Alicia whispered into Hayate's shoulder.

"Welcome back." Hayate responded tenderly.

Nanoha was less shocked that Fate hugged her back, but it still amazed her how open Fate had become with physical contact. She was glad for the change. It meant she could give out more hugs to blonde whenever she wanted. Carim, Suzuka, and Arisa soon piled on more hugs to welcome back the two girls.

"Alright everyone, nothing to see here." Verossa figured he should make himself useful and begin dispersing the crowd so that they could have a proper conversation with their newly returned friends.

Suzuka and Carim pulled themselves away so they could help Verossa with the crowd control. Hayate and Nanoha eventually released Alicia and Fate, but they claimed the seats next to them. Now that they were back, they didn't want to be apart from them. The crowd broke apart, albeit slowly, giving the friends the privacy they needed. At least as much privacy as they could get in the cafeteria.

"When did you get back?" Carim decided to kick off the questioning.

"This morning." Alicia answered.

"We would have gone to class first but Lindy-san wanted to have breakfast with us. Alicia and I decided it would be best to spend the morning with her before coming back."

Lindy had been the most to suffer through this ordeal a second time. She'd gotten very little sleep the first time she awaited to hear what the fate of the twins would be. Doing it again was worse considering the circumstances they had been held under. Sleep was practically nonexistent since she was stuck with the knowledge that she couldn't interfere with the twin's case. Had she tried anything, her superior would have made sure she never saw her girls again. The twins wanted to somehow cheer up their adoptive mother and chose to spend the morning with her.

"When we arrived we realized it would soon be lunch. Lindy suggested we surprise you." Alicia continued.

"We had hoped to greet you as you walked through the door, but everyone surrounded us before we could do anything. Our surprise was foiled." Fate frowned slightly.

"I don't know about that." Hayate grinned. "I was still pretty surprised to see you."

"Is… everything going to be alright?" Suzuka turned the conversation serious.

Really, it was probably one of the first things that crossed all their minds once the reality that the twins were back set in. Would they suddenly be taken away again?

"We were issued a warning." Alicia revealed. "Seeing as we acted in self-defense, they were willing to give us the benefit of the doubt."

"Is that why it took so long for you guys to come back?" Arisa asked.

"Yes." Fate nodded. "They had to make sure all the evidence and testimonies correlated before coming to a decision."

The twins did not mention that even with how fast all the evidence was gathered, they still shouldn't have been released so soon. When they'd been taken into custody, it'd been very clear their case would be handled as a homicide. If anything, they were sure they'd be held for a lot longer than over a week. They knew exactly how homicide cases were handled and the length it took to make sure all possible evidence was gathered to be used against them. It was no secret that they weren't trusted at all and if they could be put away with this case then everything was going to be done to do so. It's why Lindy had practically worried herself to death about their situation. She couldn't be involved with the case since she had a personal investment in them. It came as a shock when they'd suddenly been released. Not only that, but all they were given was a warning and told that if they wanted to avoid having to go through a similar situation they needed to become official bodyguards. Once they had that they would be legally able to use deadly force. Bodyguards were given a license to kill in case they were in a situation where they could not escape without taking a life. Thus, they were left with an important decision to make. Fate already had a potential person to work for thanks to Nanoha's declaration a while back. Alicia on the other hand was going to have a difficult time deciding who she should work for.

During their breakfast, Lindy filled them in on what they'd missed while they were locked up. Much to their surprise, many people had suddenly been calling Lindy with the purpose of hiring one or both of the girls. Lindy never thought she'd hear so many people excited at the prospect of hiring the twins. It was odd but she was also pleased that others were no longer afraid of them as they used to be. Alicia and Fate had looked over the packets of applications Lindy had been sent. Shiro had even sent a packet for Fate to fill out. The younger blonde stared at the packet long and hard. Lindy encouraged her to fill it out and turn it in so she could begin guarding the younger Takamachi in earnest, but Fate hadn't decided if she should.

"So they're not going to come after you again?" Suzuka looked skeptical about what they'd been told. The twins couldn't blame her and they suspected that their friends didn't buy the entire story. It was far too convenient but it's what had truly happened. The twins had their suspicions that it wasn't just good luck that got them out of their messy situation but they hadn't had a chance to dig further into the matter. There would be a chance to do so in the future.

"No. All they asked was that we make sure to get hired properly as body guards so we would not have this same issue again." Alicia confirmed.

"Makes sense." Carim stole a fry from the Alicia's plate. "The whole, you know, license to kill thing…."

Carim winced as an uneasy silence fell across the table. That really hadn't been the right thing to say.

"So, you're looking for a job?" Hayate hoped that distracted everyone from Carim's awkward comment.

"I suppose I am." Alicia acknowledged although she wasn't sure she was completely comfortable with having to move out of her home if she found someone to hire her. From what she'd seen though, it wouldn't be a problem to get hired with how many requests Lindy received. "There were a lot of calls and files sent to Lindy for both Fate and myself."

Hayate didn't like what she was hearing. She hadn't heard about this sudden development which wasn't like her. Why hadn't she been informed that Alicia was out on the market for a job? Her request would have been the first to go through. Heck, she would've already hired her. More than likely, it was because she already had a whole group of her own bodyguards. That didn't mean she couldn't have one more though. She'd have to talk to Signum to see if there was any way to move to the front of the line with her request. There was no way she was going to let someone else hire Alicia.

The friends took a small break to get some actual food before continuing to catch up. They didn't want to go the whole school day without having had a meal. Things had been going great after everyone got some food to much on until Kyrie stopped by for a visit. Much to Nanoha's annoyance, Kyrie had gone to their table in order to try to entice Fate into filling out the paperwork to become her bodyguard. Things got a bit heated as Nanoha and Kyrie came close to trading blows, but Fate and Yuri kept the two girls at bay just as the lunch bell signaled the end of their lunch break.

Despite this little hiccup in their day, it had been great to be back in school.

**xxx**

"Maybe you should get some sleep."

Lindy looked up from her stack of files at Vice. He'd been sent on his 5th coffee run of the day and it was only 2pm.

"No time to sleep." The yawn that followed did little to convince Vice that his boss was alright. Despite this he handed over the cup of coffee.

Vice looked around the room. It wasn't just Lindy's desk that was full of folders and papers. Around the small space officer were boxes and boxes of more case files. From what he wasn't sure but he had a vague idea what those files were for.

"Do you need any help? Having an extra set of eyes might move this along a bit faster."

Lindy smiled tiredly at her right hand man.

"No, I want to do this myself. Thank you for the offer though."

"If you're sure… don't hesitate to ask if you need it."

Lindy waved off the dark haired man. Once she was sure that Vice would not be barging in on her again, she opened a certain file on her desk. It was Vice's employee record. The green haired woman rubbed her eyes tiredly. She'd been combing through case files, employee records, and anything that could be of use to her. During those days she'd been waiting to hear news about the twins, she'd tried to occupy her mind with anything she could. Inevitably, her mind turned towards work. It'd been awhile since she'd thought about Precia but thanks to this her mind drifted back to those meetings they had. Thinking about the woman's cryptic words, she began her search through files attempting to find whether there was any truth to the things she'd said.

She was convinced that perhaps Precia was trying to deceive and lead her astray, but she'd found that didn't seem to be the case. She retrieved every report she'd complied since starting to work on the twins' case hoping to find something more; something she might have missed. Somewhere in those files there was a link connecting everything. She needed to find it. Slowly but surely, she was beginning to see odd things; inconsistencies in reports or mysterious files that had gone missing but evidence remained that they'd existed at some point. She continued to think about all the things that Precia had told her when it suddenly clicked. There was a mole in the organization, maybe more than one but for who were they working for? The Assassin's Guild? For what purpose? To stop them from breaking up their organization? It was a possibility but that didn't explain Precia giving her hints. She was still technically with The Guild and no one ever ratted out The Guild. Not even those who were exiled or retired. The possibility of a second party being involved couldn't be overruled either.

Then there was the matter of the name she'd dropped so long ago. Jail Scaglietti. No matter how much she'd looking into the name, she couldn't find anything. It was like this person never existed, but she had a feeling it was a real person whoever it was. So far Precia hadn't given her false information so she couldn't give up on finding something just yet. There was still plenty more files to sort through. On more than one occasion, she'd wanted to ask Vice for help, but she couldn't risk it. Not with the possibility of a mole being under her command. Until she knew who she could trust, she had to do this on her own; connecting as many dots as she could. Unfortunately this meant she would eventually need to talk to the captured assassin when she ran out of pieces to puzzle Precia clearly wanted her to solve. The woman was the only one giving her hints. The problem of course was that they weren't talking to each other, at least Precia wasn't. Even now, the dark haired assassin hadn't tried to have a meeting with her. Lindy found it frustrating knowing that she would have to give into her demands in order to get her to talk. She'd have to deal with it when the time came, but in the meantime, she is going to sort through all her files and gather as much Intel as she could on her own.

**xxx**

"Why are we here again?" Laguna grumbled at all the chatter going on around them. Linith just couldn't pick a good place to conduct their meetings or at least a place that had less annoying people.

Linith ignored the younger girls grumbling and took a sip of her tea. She and Laguna were having a meal together outside a cozy little café she'd happened to find during one of her strolls.

"Not enjoying the lovely weather?"

"What's so lovely about it?" Laguna stabbed her fork into a carrot. "Couldn't you have picked a better place for this?"

"What better place than across the street from our assignment?"

"It's still not a good place. Others can eavesdrop."

Linith smirked slightly at that. "A lot of outsiders seem to suddenly have an interest in us these days."

"It's annoying."

"For once I agree with you."

Linith studied the girl sitting across from her. She was only 15 and already so willing to go out and do assignments with her. It was no secret that The Guild frowned upon training anyone younger than 15 into the profession. There had been some talk that even 15 was too young, but it was widely argued that by that age an individual was capable enough to make such a life changing decision. It was easy enough to enforce this rule since The Guild never took applications to become part of the organization. The Guild recruited you, you didn't ask to join. Should you be lucky to get an invitation then it was a life time bond, however if you chose to refuse, you were killed. No exceptions. They couldn't risk having someone become curious and snoop around because of misguided curiosity. Secret originations wanted to remain just that, a secret. It wasn't unheard of to have someone refuse an invitation but more often than not, many chose to join.

Others, like Laguna, were born into the lifestyle.

Linith knew that not many thought of them as human beings considering that they made a living by killing people, but deep down they were still human and because of this it wasn't so farfetched to believe that assassins were capable of falling in love. It happened but it was never an easy situation to be in not to mention the decisions that befell those that chose to have a family as well. Choosing whether or not to raise a child in that type of environment was always a difficult choice to make. Parents though had the option of choosing to give their children up for adoption so they would not need to raise a child in that type environment but they would not be stopped if they wanted to raise them in the Guild. The children raised within the Guild headquarters were taught everything they needed about life outside The Guild and about non-combative roles they could take up once they were old enough. They were never taught to become assassins like their parents but in some cases, the kids took the initiative and began to learn on their own. In those cases, the Guild would make an exception if it was unanimously decided that the minor should be given a chance to prove themselves and if the minor was 15 or older. Under no circumstances did they teach the art of killing to anyone younger than that. The child would then be trained by either their parents or by someone else depending on what kind of work the minor wanted to do.

Once they were ready, they'd perform their first real test and eliminate a target chosen by the Guild Master. If they failed to kill their target, they would have to live the rest of their lives as non-combative members of The Guild since, at that point, they would have learned things about the organization that were considered classified.

Laguna was such a child. Beginning at the age of 10, she began training herself in order to become just like her brother. The two were offspring of previous members who had died on a mission. The Guild had been raising them until they were old enough to decide what they wanted to do. Now that she was old enough to be trained, Laguna was performing her test by helping Linith with a classified mission she was given by the recently deceased Guild Master. If all went well, she'd be promoted to a full-fledged member of The Guild. If that happened, she would be the first to join without having to kill someone as an assignment. Laguna knew that whatever this mission was, it was important enough that The Guild held it above killing which said a lot for an organization that specialized in just that.

"Will I have time to finish my meal before the fireworks begin?"

"Probably not."

"Damn. I guess I won't be able to enjoy my salad."

Linith simply grinned apologetically. She couldn't help compare her young apprentice to her very first pupils not because Laguna was a bad student, but because of how she wished she could have taught the twins in the same manner. The older woman remembered when she was called upon to help train the two blondes. It was the first and only time The Guild had ever broken their golden rule. Her feelings had been mixed at the time and they still were. She hadn't liked turning those girls into weapons, but it had to be done. Even now, the training they'd received at such a young age would be the thing to save them from what was to come. The Guild was counting on them to survive even if they didn't know it. It was for this reason alone that Precia was allowed to turn them into what they were.

Would it be worth it? That was still left to be seen.

"Fireworks are starting in three, two, one…"

Boom!

The pleasant atmosphere was shattered by the explosion that rocked the building across the street from them. Laguna popped one last carrot into her mouth, unamused by all the commotion.

"What's next?" Laguna casually got up from her seat, Linith followed her lead.

"We find Quattro."

"Dead or alive?"

"It's preferred she be captured alive, but if all else fails, we do what we have to." Linith paused a moment. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"I've been training for this day for a long time."

Linith twirled two knifes in her hand as they walked across the street to the building. Laguna wasted no time in drawing out her hand gun as well. The people within the vicinity were far too panicked to notice what the two assassins were doing. They were more interested in running as far away as they could from the scene.

"Then let's do this."

**AN:** I know it's not my longest chapter and I apologize for that considering I made you guys wait so long. I'll make the next chapter longer to make up for it. Not a lot of Nanoha and the gang in this chapter but I gotta set up the story for what's to come. Until then, reviews are always appreciated and remember to check out my profile for updates if I go too long without updating again. I'll try not lose my focus.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN:** Welcome back everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Again, I've kind of become addicted to League of Legends so I've been spending most of my free time playing, so my apologies. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I know everyone is eager to find out just what the heck is going on with The Guild, Riot Force 6 and everyone else. Answers are coming. I swear.

Also, a big thank you to **Timmy Sparx** who offered to become my beta reader. Maybe now I'll stop taking so long to write chapters. Now without further ado, here is the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. There. I said it.

Safe and Sound

Lindy groaned as she stretched her aching muscles. She was satisfied when she heard the distinctive pop of her bones. Being hunched over on a desk for so long was killing her back, not to mention all the late night work in general had taken its toll on her. She intended to get some sleep now that her girls were back, but that didn't mean she was going to take it easy. There was still plenty of digging to do. All the missing and incomplete files though were making it hard on her. Not to mention still had a mole in RF6 to track down. It was vital not just to her, but to the organization as a whole. She'd narrowed down her search and the most likely candidate was the one she dreaded the most, but it just couldn't be that person.

The ringing of the school bell distracted her from her thoughts, for which she was thankful for.

Switching her gaze over to the students streaming out of the school, she caught sight of her two blonde girls. The sheer exhaustion she felt from work left her momentarily, letting her enjoy the fact that the twins looked like two normal high school students heading home after a day at school. She giggled when Hayate suddenly latched on to a less than amused Alicia. The older blonde had her hand on Hayate's head; attempting to push the brunette off but Hayate had a surprisingly firm grip on her. Vita and Reinforce had to come to Alicia's rescue. It was an odd thing to see since Alicia was probably one of the last people that required any rescuing, but the fact that she allowed Hayate to do her shenanigans said a lot. Compared to Alicia, Fate had a tamer good bye with Nanoha. The auburn haired girl gave Fate a quick hug before waving her off. The twins waved to the rest of their friends before climbing into Lindy's car.

"How was school?" she asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"It was…."

"Good." Fate finished.

"Did you miss it?"

"More than I thought I would." Alicia admitted.

"There were a lot of things we hadn't expected to miss."

Happy with their response, Lindy asked what they did on their first day back. Slowly, the two let her know of the work they needed to catch up on for their various classes. There had been some concern as to whether they'd been given enough time to complete their assignments, but the twins assured Lindy that the time frame was fair. They were more than confident they'd get all the work done before their time was up. The three arrived home only to find surprise visitors waiting for them at the door. Chrono and Amy waved at them as they got out of the car.

"Chrono?" Lindy asked a bit confused as to why he was there. Not that she wasn't happy to see her son, but he usually only visited every other weekend. When Chrono first moved out, it took some adjusting to not only for her but for the twins as well. Lindy had known though that one day he'd end up moving out and the twins would as well. All kids eventually left home to follow their paths in life. Once the paper work was filled out and approved, the twins would be well on their way to live in new homes. It was a sad thing to think she'd be alone in this house after that happened.

"Surprise." Chrono smiled at Lindy and the twins. "I thought it would be a good idea to visit so we can celebrate Alicia and Fate coming home."

Chrono went up to the blondes and hugged the two to him. The twins didn't hesitate to return the hug. It'd been too long since the three had been around each other like this. After inviting everyone inside, dinner was quickly made with everyone's help.

"So, I hear there's a mob of people just waiting to hire you guys." Chrono said with a hint of pride in his voice. He always knew that if everyone could look beyond their pasts, they'd find two incredible people in the blondes.

"Yes, it was… odd to find so many willing to hire us." Alicia admitted.

"It's become a popular topic." Amy nodded. "I'm hearing a lot of families want to hire you, but Shiro-san has been pushing his request much more than everyone else for Fate-chan."

"He did turn in his packet to hire Fate almost immediately after the mall incident." Lindy said.

"Whoa! Someone's eager to hire you." Chrono mussed up Fate's hair affectionately. "That's amazing since you know how much of a hard ass he is."

"Chrono!" Lindy admonished her son.

"What? It's true and you know it. That man is _incredibly_ over protective of his family."

"You can't really blame him." Amy shook her head at her bodyguard/boyfriend. "He's made a lot of enemies thanks to his business."

"Yeah, I know but that doesn't mean he can be a jerk to my little sisters."

"Have you two decided who you're going to work for?" Amy asked hoping to keep Chrono from going on a tirade about Shiro.

"Umm, about that…." Alicia began.

"What?" Lindy perked up a bit seeing that the twins suddenly looked unsure of themselves. She was almost certain that they would jump at the chance to get a job like this. "Why not? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just; I suppose it's a very petty reason for hesitating to take the bodyguard jobs." Alicia frowned slightly at admitting that. She wasn't used to feeling unsure of herself.

"What's the reason?" Amy asked.

The twins looked at each other before looking at Lindy.

"We'd have to live apart." Fate answered, "Not only from you but from each other."

"Fate and I have never been away from one another like that. With the exception of getting arrested, we've been at each other's side since we were born. Living apart seems..."

"Unimaginable." Fate sighed. "But we know that this is important not only for us but for you as well."

"We'll fill out the paperwork." Alicia assured Lindy. "We're just having last minute doubts. It won't stop us though."

"Girls…." Lindy's gaze softened at their revelation. How could she have forgotten how depend they were on each other? "I promise that no matter where you go, you'll always have a home here."

"Ah…." The two blushed at having to be reassured in such a way.

Lindy's smile widened. "And thank you for worrying about me as well."

The blonde's blushes intensified. The two looked down at their plates in hopes of hiding their ever reddening cheeks. Feelings were complicated, but they knew that the warmth they felt from Lindy's words were the only thing they needed to know they were making the right choice.

**xxx**

"Today we'll be trying out something a bit different." Zafira boomed to his class. Since the exams, two classes were now always grouped together to allow them more people to train with while the non-bodyguard students did regular gym activities. Alicia and Fate were pleased to find that the class they were grouped with belonged to Carim and Suzuka. Because of this, the four bonded even more and even started to train together. Considering that Fate and Alicia only tended to pair up with one another, it was a major change for them to actually pair up with another person. In some respect, this made Hayate and Nanoha somewhat jealous at how easily the twins got along with the other two girls. Today the class had been informed they would be doing hand to hand combat again. The students sat on the sparring mats while Zafira gave them instructions for the class. So far, they'd done nothing but hand to hand combat with a partner. The twins hoped that whatever Zafira had planned for them would make the class a little more interesting.

They didn't mind sparring with each other, but that got boring after a while. They knew it couldn't be helped considering how advanced they were. There was no way they'd expect their classmates to keep up with them; Carim and Suzuka being an exception seeing as they'd been trained by their families since they could walk.

"I normally allow you to pick your sparring partners, but not today. I'll be picking them for you."

There were a few groans in the class. Everyone had all but established a routine when it came to their sparring partners, but sometimes routines created complacency. That was something Zafira did not want them to have. Not for the line of work they wanted to go into. You had to be on constant guard and take note of every change in detail in order to be proficient in the field. Zafira ignored the groans and instead looked down his list of students to determine who should be paired with whom.

"Whining will change nothing." Zafira declared. "Now listen for your names and get ready to spar."

In a few minutes, almost everyone was paired up. The twins had been observing the way Zafira was partnering them up and discovered a pattern. He seemed to be putting together the students who were better at hand to hand combat with those who weren't as good. Since everyone had been allowed from the very beginning to choose who to partner up with, most students either teamed up with someone they already knew or someone who they knew was close to their skill level. Although this did allow for some growth, they wouldn't get much better if they kept practicing with the same people over and over, especially if the people they kept sparring with were of the same skill level.

"Harlaown and Nakajima."

"Which one?" Alicia and Fate asked. Zafira shook his head for having forgotten that there were two of them.

"Fate."

The younger blonde looked over to the other side of the matt where a short haired girl with a white bandanna sat next to an orange haired girl with sharp eyes. The orange haired girl seemed to be glaring at her slightly but that didn't put her off since the short haired girl actually smiled at her. She hoped that meant the short haired girl was not going to give her problems.

"Alicia and Lanster."

The orange haired girl stopped glaring at Fate long enough to look surprised and instead cast a timid glance to Alicia. It was fairly obvious she was anything but comfortable with her partner selection. Zafira finished reading his list and released everyone to get to know their new sparring partners. Fate and Alicia stood up and walked over to the two girls. The short haired one stood up immediately and greeted Fate.

"I guess we'll be partners today." She thrust her hand out at Fate. "My name's Subaru Nakajima. Nice to meet you."

Fate reached out and grasped the other girl's hand. She'd been taken off guard a bit with how friendly she was.

"I suppose we will be. I'm Fate Harlaown, but I'm sure you already knew that."

Subaru chuckled. "Yeah, you guys are kind of hard to miss with all the trouble you cause. It helps that we're in the same class too."

Fate and Alicia tried to recall everyone in their class and determined that yes; they were indeed in the same class. They'd never spoken to her though, but it wasn't like they just went up to people and started conversations with their peers. Nanoha and Hayate had to pull teeth to get them to talk to them after all.

"I'm Teana Lanster." The orange haired girl butted in. "Let's just do this already."

Alicia frowned slightly at Teana's behavior but chalked it up to the fact she might be nervous about being paired up with her. Nodding, she followed Teana as the girl lead her to an open area on the sparring mats. Fate turned to Subaru who seemed to be waiting for Fate to take the lead. Spotting an area not too far from them, she motioned for the short haired girl to follow her. Subaru followed along without complaint. Fate decided to start off slow and see what the girl was capable of. If anything, this is what Zafira intended for them to do. It wasn't a bad idea to have them learn from one another. It'd give them a chance to discover new fighting styles which could become indispensable in the future.

"Let's start off slow shall we?"

Slow must've meant something else to Subaru because the girl went all out from the get go. Fate barely managed to lean back from a potentially damaging right hook. Subaru though didn't stop and continued to jab mercilessly at the blonde. Fate didn't particularly enjoy being on the defensive, but decided to stick with it. This would give her a chance to see just what Subaru was capable of. After a few minutes, Fate discerned that Subaru specialized in some form of boxing with a bit of kickboxing thrown in. She couldn't spot any other form of fighting style Subaru was using, but if she had to guess, Subaru must have no formal training. If she'd properly been taught boxing, she'd have better footwork not to mention have a better defense. As she was now, she had too many openings that Fate could easily take advantage of. The kickboxing part of her style obviously wasn't big and was only being used on the off chance she could catch Fate off guard.

Having assessed Subaru's skills enough, she decided it was time for her counter attack. It wasn't long before she had Subaru on the defensive instead. Subaru tried to gain the upper hand again, but with Fate effortlessly blocking punch after punch, it seemed almost impossible. With a mighty yell, she tried to deliver a straight punch to Fate's abdomen, but Fate easily side stepped and tripped the short haired girl with barely any effort. Subaru lay on her back panting heavily. She'd spent most of her energy attacking and keeping that momentum going, but once she'd been stopped, the fatigue hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Well that wasn't what I'd had in mind but I got to see what you can do." Fate extended a helping hand out to the girl.

Subaru grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess I got too eager."

"Eagerness isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"That's not what Tea thinks. She was worried about us being paired up and I just wanted to show her that I'm able of handling things on my own."

"Well, you definitely are fearless. I'll give you that much, but it takes more than fearlessness to win a fight."

While Fate explained what she thought Subaru was lacking in, Alicia was a lot less friendly teacher than her sister.

"Wrong." Alicia blocked a punch.

"Yaaaa!" Teana tried a round house kick instead.

"Wrong." Alicia grabbed hold of Teana's leg and using the momentum, tossed the orange haired girl off to the side.

This, however, didn't discourage her. Teana got right back up and continued her assault against the blonde assassin.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong." Alicia said with every punch and kick until she unexpectedly tackled Teana to the ground and subdued the orange haired girl in a sleeper hold. "Surrender."

Teana flailed in the hold, trying desperately to break free, but it was no use. Alicia had her trapped and she couldn't do anything about it.

"F-fine."

"Fine what?"

"I surrender!"

Alicia released her from the hold allowing the girl a moment to catch her breath. She'd used up all her energy just blindly attacking her instead of trying to find an opening to attack, which she'd had plenty of since left them there on purpose to see if Teana would use them to her advantage. She'd been disappointed to see the orange haired girl didn't even notice them. That didn't even include the fact that her fighting style was all over the place. She didn't settle into one form and seemed to jump from boxing, to karate, to wrestling without trying to combine them together in any way.

"Everything you did was wrong." Alicia told her. Teana flinched at the tone she was being reprimand in. Alicia noticed her reaction. She wasn't the best at being nice, but if she was going to be teaching her classmates then she needed to be less blunt. She'd try to anyway. "But it's not hopeless. You can get better with more training."

With that, she helped her up and began showing her exactly where she was making her mistakes. Class went by faster than Fate and Alicia would have liked. They still felt like they had much more to teach their partners, but it couldn't be helped. The two made sure to tell them what to work on before they returned to the locker room to change for the remainder of their classes. Lunch soon arrived. It'd become the twins favorite part of the day. Not that they'd tell anyone that. They still weren't at the stage where they'd share their feelings openly like that.

"Your sisters not dating anyone is she?" Carim asked Nanoha out of the blue.

Everyone at the table looked to the blonde who flushed.

"Hmm, no. I'm pretty sure she's not dating anyone." Nanoha answered.

"Carim and Miyuki sitting in a tree…" Hayate started singing but was cut off when Carim glared at her. "Oh come on now Blondie. We all know you've been crushing on her since the sleepover."

"S-shut up!"

"Now you sound like my brother." Nanoha giggled. "But I think you should try asking her out. I'm going to warn you though; Daddy will try to scare you."

"He seems like the type to do that." Arisa agreed. "You'll have your work cut out for you Carim."

"Don't remind me." Carim laid her head on the table. "I remember him glaring at me during breakfast that morning. He totally knows I'm into Miyuki."

"You made it very obvious." Hayate laughed. "I'm sure even Miyuki knows you like her."

"Don't say that!" Carim exclaimed. "She can't know! I want to be able to properly confess."

"It seems like my little sister is still a maiden at heart after all." Verossa commented as he approached their table.

Carim didn't even lift her head to acknowledge her step-brother.

"Carim-chan has a crush on someone?" a different voice asked. This one was one made Carim's heart skip a beat.

"M-Miyuki-chan!?"

She immediately sat straight up as Miyuki took a seat at their table. This was the first time that the older girl had joined them for lunch. Even though they went to the same school, Nanoha and her siblings didn't really socialize with one another. The friends never really questioned what the reason for this was. They figured it was because they'd see each other at home anyway so they preferred to mingle with their own group of friends while at school.

"Miyuki-san!" Hayate greeted. "How nice of you to join us."

"What brings you over?" Suzuka asked while keeping an eye on the now nervous Carim. The blonde girl had gone almost completely pale at this point. She was probably worried about the older girl having heard about the not so secret crush she was harboring towards her.

"Verossa-kun invited me to have lunch with all of you. We've never eaten together so I thought this would be a good opportunity."

"I don't blame you for not having lunch with us before." Nanoha spoke up. "You do have your own friends and what not."

"I suppose that's true enough."

"I-I didn't know you knew Verossa." Carim managed to stutter.

"Ah, we're actually in the same class. We hadn't had a chance to talk much until we were paired up for a project in class. That's when we came to discover that we had similar acquaintances."

"It's a small world isn't it?" Miyuki smiled at Carim.

"Very." Carim blushed a bit. Off to the side, Hayate snickered at her love struck friend. "Er, umm, so I hear Fate and Alica are turning in their paperwork today." She hoped that was enough to get all the attention off of her.

"Really?" Nanoha asked happily.

"Yes." The twins responded.

"That is wonderful news!" Miyuki chimed in as well. "I'm glad Daddy didn't scare you away."

"I doubt these two are scared of anything." Arisa stated. "Well either way I'm glad to hear you're doing it."

"So does that mean you're going to work for Hayate?" Suzuka asked Alicia.

"Perhaps."

"You don't sound so sure." Hayate frowned slightly worried that maybe Alicia had changed her mind about wanting to work for her.

"You already have plenty of bodyguards." Alicia pointed out. "I'm sure adding one more wouldn't be an issue but is it really necessary? Graham-san might not see it as a vital thing for you right now."

"But he wouldn't have sent you the packet if he didn't think it was."

"That may be true, but he only sent it after you asked him. Isn't that right?"

Hayate opened her mouth to respond but stopped herself. It was true. She had to actually call him and get him to push her request.

"So whose paperwork are you turning in?" Hayate asked tensely.

"Yours of course."

"But you just said…."

"I know what I said." Alicia cut her off. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're the only one I'd rather work for."

Alicia was expecting Hayate to launch herself at her in happiness but instead nothing happened. Glancing towards Hayate's direction, she instead noticed the brunette smiling tenderly at her. Alicia averted her gaze quickly cursing her reddening cheeks. If Hayate looked at her like that all the time, she had a feeling her blushing cheeks would become permanent.

**xxx**

Lindy tiredly rubbed her eyes as she walked towards Precia's cell. It'd been awhile now since she'd even laid eyes on Precia Testarossa, but the time had come for them to have a chat again. She'd dug as much as she could with what she had. Inevitably, she hit a wall with her investigation, but what she was able to find disturbed her. RF6 had captured a handful of assassins since its inception. In the early days, many were eventually killed because of the methods they used to try to get information out of them. With those methods not baring any fruit, they'd since staved off torturing. That didn't mean it still wasn't used from time to time, but no one outside the organization was aware of this fact. Everything RF6 did was in secret because it technically didn't exist. The problem was, however, the missing files on these assassins that had been captured. These files had either gone missing or been tampered with in some form. Another curious thing she noticed was the fact all these files belonged to female assassins. It was rather worrisome to think that no one had ever noticed this was happening and if they did why would her superiors turn a blind eye to it? Not to mention the fact that a mole was still running around RF6 led her to finally give in and speak with the assassin. She was the only one providing her with any sort of leads into her situation and at this point, any sort of help was welcomed.

Lindy arrived at Precia's cell. Normally, she would have Precia sent to the interrogation room but with the mole around, she couldn't risk anyone knowing Precia was giving her more intel about them. The assassin obviously knew who it was that infiltrated RF6 and seemed to only be giving hints to Lindy about them for her own agenda. She was going to have to do things behind her co-workers backs if she wanted to figure this out. She'd made sure no one was around during this time so she'd be able to properly talk with the woman. Taking a deep breathe, she opened the door. Precia was sitting in the middle of her cell in her usual shackles. Cautiously, Lindy shut the door behind her. Precia made no move to acknowledge the agent. It was almost odd to see Precia sitting there so expressionless. Lindy had grown used to Precia being almost playful with her and certainly more talkative than this.

"It's been awhile." Lindy began.

Predictably, Precia said nothing.

"You know, I followed your advice and did some digging. The things I've found have left me with more questions than answers."

Still Precia said nothing. Lindy sighed. The assassin was really committed to her promise not to speak. Lindy leaned against the door and hoped that what she was about to do was the right thing.

"Everything I'm finding so far has increased my worry. As much as I hate to admit it, you're the only one who's been of any help to me. Please talk to me… Precia."

In an instant, the assassin went from her emotionless mask, back to her playful smile.

"I knew you'd give into me sooner or later."

"Does this mean you're going to help me?"

"I'd do anything for you my secret agent."

Lindy resisted the urge to tell her she most certainly didn't belong to her, but she just got Precia to speak to her again. It'd be in her best interest not to lose her now.

"Then tell me what Jail Scaglietti has to do with all this. I've found nothing on this man in any of our files; however, if I can just find something on him, everything is going to fall into place. Am I right?"

"Very good. You are indeed right. He is what connects everything, but no matter where you look, you won't find anything on this man in your organizations files. You're superiors have made sure of that."

"What do you mean?"

Precia stood up, the jingles from her shackles echoed in the cell.

"Just what it sounds like. Scaglietti won't be traceable thanks to them. If you want to know why, I suggest you look up the reason why Riot Force 6 was created to begin with."

"That can't be right. My superiors wouldn't…"

"Do something like that? Lindy, Lindy, you of all people should know that the government has no qualms about hiding things from not only the general public, but from within its own government. For what other reason do you think Riot Force 6 needed to be created to begin with? Dig deeper my secret agent. When the time comes, I'll give you the last piece of the puzzle you need."

"Why can't you give me that piece now?"

"You're not ready for that."

"Who says I'm not?"

"I do."

"How do you know for sure?"

Precia looked off to the side as if actually taking into consideration what Lindy asked.

"Do you know why I went missing all those years ago?"

Lindy wasn't surprised by the change in topic. Precia always seemed to do this when she felt she was done talking about a certain subject. She certainly liked to keep control of the conversations. Still, Precia picked an interesting topic to shift to.

"The pregnancy?"

"Very good! My, I picked a smart one to befriend."

Friend? That was definitely the last thing Lindy would refer to them as. By no means had she ever done anything that would suggest she had accepted Precia as anything other than her prisoner. Then again, giving in and calling her by name didn't exactly help her case. She wondered if this was how Alicia and Fate must've felt like with Hayate and Nanoha were doing their best to break down their walls to acknowledge them as friends. This was different though. Precia was a dangerous assassin, but Alicia and Fate had been that as well. They were given a second chance and look where they were now. Lindy vigorously shook her head. She couldn't let Precia confuse her like this. She was the good guy; Precia the bad guy; the line was drawn between them and they could never be more than that.

"What are you getting at?"

"I never got a say in the pregnancy."

If Lindy hadn't been leaning up against the door to begin with, she might have fallen back from shock. It couldn't be possible could it?

"Look into what I said. When you discover the truth, I'll come to you." Precia turned away from Lindy, effectively ending the conversation. She'd wanted to say something to the assassin, but the words just wouldn't form. Instead, Lindy left the cell in a daze. Why had she told her something like that; something so personal? The agent steadily walked back to her office. Questions floating through her mind faster than she could keep up with. What was Precia trying to say? What else was she trying to point her to? She suddenly felt like she'd been handed something far bigger than she was ready to handle.

**xxx**

"Do we have an understanding?"

"Of course."

"I'm not fooling around Jail."

"I know."

"Then make sure they are taken care of. I can't risk them running around unchecked any longer."

"It will be done."

The man turned away from the smiling face of his partner.

"Don't forget who you answer to Jail." He walked out of the room without waiting to hear a response from the other man.

Jail chuckled. How typical of him to be asked to take care of the burly man's problems. He looked over the files sitting on the table the other man had been occupying moments before. It seemed the Assassin's Guild had been stepping up their attacks against his hideouts. It was impressive that they'd tracked down so many already. He expected nothing less from the elites running the organization. Still, they weren't good enough to find his true hideouts, just like they hadn't been good enough from keeping him from killing their Master. Thanks to his benefactor, it was easy for him to go as he pleased where ever he wanted, but it was true he couldn't allow them to continue their attacks without any retaliation. He frowned as he looked at one particular file. Linith _would_ be the one to cause him grief. Even back in the days when they worked together, the brunette always got in his way. She never trusted him. In a way, she was smarter than everyone else who'd he'd worked with. She and Precia had been a formidable team once and he doubted they'd lost their touch even after all this time. If anything, he felt like he was still fighting both of them. Setting aside Linith's file, he picked up the one on her latest charge. Laguna. There really wasn't much he knew about the younger assassins but he knew enough. If Linith had trained her then he knew exactly what to expect. He wasn't too worried about an upstart who had yet to even prove their place in The Guild. He set the file aside and instead focused on the two people he really wanted.

The Testarossa twins.

His pride and joy; the first of his experiments to bear fruit. It was a shame Precia hadn't seen as such and instead ran away before he could even go through with his plans. It didn't matter though. She still went ahead and did what'd he'd planned. Then she had to go and get caught. By all accounts, that shouldn't have been possible. Precia was the best at hiding. It's why she was The Guilds go to person for undercover missions. She only let you find her if she wanted you to. From what he could tell, Precia hadn't intended to get caught so how did it happen? There was no way Riot Force 6 was as good as they thought they were. Still, his only concern now was getting his hands on the twins. Precia had done the work for him of raising them to be perfect killing machines and that their little reformation was nothing he couldn't undo. All he had to do was lure them with the perfect bait.

Jail reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a picture of Nanoha and Hayate. Smiling to himself, he stood up and left the room. He had some planning to do. You couldn't have the perfect bait without catching it first.

**xxx**

"It's done." Fate said out loud.

Alicia could only nod as the two stepped out of the office. They had finally turned in their applications to be bodyguards. All they could do now was wait for the final approval from their prospective employers. For Fate it was almost a sure fire thing that she'd get hired, unless of course Shiro had a last minute change of heart, but she was sure there was no way he'd change his mind. Alicia on the other hand, needed the approval of not just anybody. The Prime Minister would surely be a lot harder to please. Still, she wasn't one to just give up. She did receive a packet from him after all; it must mean something if he was willing to give her a chance to even apply.

"All we can do is wait." Alicia walked with Fate to the front of the school. They'd told Hayate and Nanoha to go ahead and head home without them since they needed to stay later to get their paperwork approved for submittal. Lindy knew they'd be a little late leaving and had planned to pick them up later at their request. With everything looking good though, all they could do was wait.

"Harlaown!"

The two stopped and turned to look for the source of the scream. They weren't sure who they were expecting to have yelled for them but it certainly wasn't the two standing before them. Subaru waved nervously while Teana had a determined look in her eye. The twins looked at each other before looking back at the two girls.

"Which one?"

"Both of you!"

"Ah." They answered. They couldn't help but wonder why Teana sounded so angry. They hadn't done anything to her per say. Alicia maybe since she wasn't the nicest teacher to her during class, but at least Fate hadn't done any harm to her.

"Can we help you?" Fate asked when Teana failed to say anything more.

"We want to speak with you."

"Well you're already doing that." Alicia was becoming more and more confused with what Teana wanted from them. She noticed though that her response seemed to make Teana a bit angrier at them. Alicia realized belatedly that her response had sounded too sarcastically. She really needed to work on interacting a lot better with her peers without unintentionally being a smart ass.

"I know that! I was trying to ask politely!"

The twins looked at each other again in confusion. Obviously they weren't the only ones who needed work with their social skills. Again though, they chalked up her reactions to the fact that she was nervous around them; perhaps even scared and was trying to mask those emotions with anger.

"Umm, what Tea is trying to say is, we'd like to ask you to be our teachers." Subaru spoke up.

Once again, they weren't sure what they'd been expecting out of this exchange, but it certainly wasn't that.

**xxx**

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yes."

Precia hummed at Snipers answer. She'd hoped she'd spend just a little more time in her current situation, but if what Vice said was true, then she couldn't afford to stay imprisoned for much longer. Jail was beginning to make his move. The pressure from The Guild was forcing him to do more than just hide in the shadows. She needed to be out there as well now to help Linith and The Guild.

"I assume you'll be checking out early?" Sniper asked.

"I'm afraid I must. It's been a lovely vacation, but I'm afraid it's time to get back to work."

"When should we expect you back?"

"Tomorrow, I make my grand exit."

**AN:** That's the end of this chapter. Reviews and comments are always appreciated so please leave one if you can. Next time: Precia makes her escape, the twins find out if they got the jobs, and Fate and Nanoha have a heart to heart about the events from the failed kidnapping. Look forward to it!


	12. Chapter 12

**AN:** Hey everyone! Yeah I know this chapter is late. I apologize. For once I wasn't held up with League. I was on vacation and had gone out of town but ended up burning myself out on my trip so I spent my last two vacation days trying to recover from not sleeping for two days since my friend and I thought it would be a good idea to drive to San Francisco and not sleep until we got there. It was a brutal drive, but we still had fun none the less. Anyway, enough about my life, I'm sure you all want to read the chapter.

Before that though, I want to thank the following people for reviewing:

**Kiruchi, kari, Aka Chibi-chan, StEpHyGrOcK3107, priest1drago, devilhamster, FrostyAsian, Spikesagitta, trumm12345, kay, Romanica, yurifans21, LunarMiko07, Spica75, Hyuuga-Sword, The Last Poison Apple, brenodrama and all the guest reviews. **

It's always good to know what you guys think of the story and I do try to respond to everyone if a response is needed. So don't think your reviews are just overlooked. I read all of them and keep in mind what you guys say. Anyways, on with the story!

Safe and Sound

"You want us to teach you?" Fate asked confused.

"Yes!" the two girls answered.

Alicia and Fate looked at each other wondering why them. They still weren't exactly the most liked people in the school. Sure they'd gained a few friends and had earned the respect of others so things were at least getting better for them.

"Are you sure?" Fate asked again, trying to give them an out.

"We wouldn't be asking if we weren't." Tea insisted.

"Why us though?" Alicia was curious to know if only because there were less controversial choices they could have made. Carim and Suzuka were right up on that list along with Vita and Reinforce. They were far more approachable than the twins considering how scary the blondes could be when they wanted to keep people away from them. Well, maybe not so much Vita and Reinforce since they seemed to be good at keeping everyone at a distance too, but Carim and Suzuka were definitely not in the same category.

"Because, out of everyone at this school, you guys know what it's really like out there." Subaru answered. "Plus I learned so much from you with what little time we had in class today that I'd like for you to continue teaching me."

"Well, I don't know how efficient we'll be at teaching you." Alicia began.

"Since we just turned in our employment applications for bodyguard positions." Fate finished.

"Whatever time you can make we'll take!" Teana quickly added. She didn't want to lose any chance of being taught by these two. She knew that if they could learn from them, she and Subaru would stand a better chance at landing jobs in the future. She was painfully aware how much they lacked in skill but after class today, she saw a bit of hope for them.

"You'll have to let us see how these jobs will work out first. After we know what we have to work with, we can decide how and if we'll be able to teach you." Alicia decided to not completely shoot down their hopes. She was under no illusion that she'd have much free time once they got hired, but at the same time, she wanted to gain a bit more favor with some of her classmates. Making more friends wouldn't be a bad thing and so far it'd done nothing but improve their social interaction with others.

"Great! We'll keep in touch." Subaru quickly took out her notebook and ripped a page out. She scribbled something on it before handing it to Alicia. "The number on top is mine and the one below if Tea's. Thanks for not completely turning us down."

"We better go now." Tea began to walk away.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Subaru waved.

Alicia took out her phone and added the two new numbers before handing it to Fate so she could do the same. It was odd to see so many numbers in their phones now. They'd been so used to just having four numbers in them that actually having to scroll through names was odd sometimes. The two girls quickly made their way to the front of the school, Lindy would surely be waiting for them by now.

**xxx**

_The next day…_

Lindy walked into her office only to cringe at the mess she'd acquired throughout her investigation. She never really took the time to look at her mess with all the work she'd added for herself. Actually staring it in the face though made her realize that she was leaving too much of a trail of paper work into what she was doing. It would probably be a good idea to put back the files that proved useless to her. It'd make finding the important files she needed easier. This would also be a good opportunity to look for new files while she returned the ones she had. Maybe, with the new information Precia had given her, she'd find something she missed on her first run. Lindy glanced around the room trying to find a good place to start. With a sigh, she chose the right side. She exited the room to retrieve a dolly. It would make transporting the boxes infinitely easier; better than carrying them all one by one.

She quickly stacked the a few boxes into a neat pile so she could begin moving them back into the archives room. She was thankful that no one would question why she had so many files. It helped that Lindy sometimes needed to inventory items to make sure all was in order. This was no different and it had been awhile since anyone had done so. The green haired woman arrived in the archives room and began to put the boxes back where they belonged. As she put the last box back, she got a call on her phone. Vice was out on their most recent case: a bombing. Not just one bombing though, when she got in that morning she'd been given three random break ins to work on as well. Lindy was confused as to why they were even being given these cases at all. There was no indication that they were anything other than random crimes. The bombing was the only one that really seemed serious so she had most of her agents working on that one while she sent a team to each break in location to work on those. Perhaps it was from a disgruntled ex-employee? It wasn't unheard of for something like that to happen. Either way, these weren't typical cases for them to take on, but her superior had made it very clear that she and her team needed to work on them. There was nothing else for her to do but follow orders.

"What have you got for me?"

"_We couldn't find anything. Other than the fact that a bomb was clearly set off, there's nothing else for us to go by."_

"What about the possibility of an ex-employee being the culprit?"

"_Well we interviewed all the employees, but the odd thing is, they just opened up their office in this building last week. No one has been fired yet."_

That was indeed odd. Maybe there was something more to this after all.

"Hmm, this case is turning out to be anything but normal."

"_We'll bring back what we can and I'll try to get a name of whoever owns this building for you."_

"At least that should be easy enough."

"_I would hope so anyway."_

"Alright, see you soon."

Lindy hung up and returned to her office to continue her cleaning. With these new cases on her hands, she wouldn't have the time she'd wanted to continue to dig around the archives on the Assassin's Guild and Jail. Still, she'd try to use whatever free time she had to continue her investigation. After a few more trips, her office was almost cleaned out of everything. Now she'd be able to work on these cases more efficiently with all her distractions gone. A knock at her door brought her out of her thought.

"Come in."

"I see you've been busy." Vice walked through the door.

"It was time to clean up for our new cases. What do you have?"

"Not a lot honestly. We got witness reports from everyone we could find. Most of the stories are similar. Everyone suddenly heard an explosion, people tried to run away as fast as they could from the scene. There were some injured and people trapped in the building, but no casualties."

"None?"

"I was just as surprised as you."

"Something is definitely wrong here. A bomb doesn't just go off without at least killing a few people, especially considering where it was set off."

"I have all the information for you to look over here." Vice held out a manila folder for Lindy. "I figured you'd want to look through it before we meet up with the rest of the team."

"Thanks. I will look this over after I put these back." She gestured towards the boxes on the dolly.

"Want me to take those back for you?"

"No, it's alright. I've got it."

"Alright, I'll go get everyone ready for the meeting after delivering lunch to our guest."

"That isn't usually your job."

"Yeah, it's not but with all the new cases we have to work on, all available hands are hard at work trying to figure out what's going on."

Lindy sighed. "It's times like these that make it woefully evident how understaffed we are."

"We all just have to do our part and then some. Nothing we can't handle."

"I'm glad I have such a good team then. Alright, enough chit chat. We need to get back to work."

"See you in an hour." Vice waved as he left Lindy's office.

Lindy waved as well before turning back to the last few boxes. She'd have plenty of time to review the files Vice left before the meeting. It'd turned out to be a good thing she started her clean up job as early as she had. The walk to the archive room didn't take very long. She entered the room and put away the last of her boxes. Her fingers had just left the box when suddenly, the alarms went off. Lindy quickly withdrew her hands and turned on her blue tooth ear piece.

"Vice come in."

Static.

"Vice!"

Nothing.

"Anyone! Come in! What is going on!"

With no response, Lindy made a dash for the door, but the door wouldn't budge. She tried again and again, putting all her weight into it, but the door was unwilling to budge. Something must be blocking the door or it jammed somehow.

"Damn it." Lindy punched the wall. "What the hell is happening?"

As if to give her more questions, the lights suddenly turned off. Luckily for her, the emergency red lights began to blink, giving her a bit of light to work with. She had to get out and find out what was going on. For some reason, she had a feeling it had something to do with a certain assassin in their custody.

**xxx**

Precia smiled at her handiwork. Two Riot Force 6 agents lay unconscious at her feet.

"Light on security today." Precia commented.

"I was surprised as well."

"Must be my Lindy's doing." Precia smirked. "She didn't want anyone interrupting any alone time we might have."

Vice said nothing and handed her a bag. In truth he hadn't expected there to only be two guards on duty for Precia. Lindy had been right when she said they were really short staffed. Thanks to that though, it'd been easy enough to lure the two under the pretense that he'd somehow been hurt in the cell when he went in to give her food. The two guards didn't even hesitate to run in to help. They walked in and were immediately drawn to Vice who was slumped against the far wall. That moment of distraction was all Precia needed to take both of them out. It hadn't been much of a challenge. Now all they needed to do was make it look like Precia took all three of them out without it looking suspicious.

"Everything you need is in there."

Precia nodded, taking the bag from him.

"Well then, I better get going."

Before Vice could say anything, Precia kicked him back against the wall. Vice had just enough time to look up for his face to get up close and personal with Precia's fist. It was followed by a few shots at his ribs before he was allowed to just prop himself up against the wall. Precia was not pulling her punches at all. He understood that this needed to look real, but did she have to crack his ribs?

"No hard feelings, right?" Precia asked

Vice had no time to reply since he soon found himself unable to say anything with a knife stuck in his gut. The things he did for his job. The dark haired assassin pulled the knife out and walked away as Vice slumped to the floor, holding the wound in his stomach. It hurt like hell, but this had been necessary. So far, he'd done his job and kept his cover for the last few years. He couldn't afford to blow it now. They still had much to do and him staying in Riot Force 6 was vital to the Guild.

"I'll get her back for this." Vice grunted. Just because he had to take this attack didn't mean he was happy about it. Precia owed him.

Precia quickly made her way to the power room. Escaping from Riot Force 6 wasn't going to be easy, but it helped that she had an informant to give her all she needed to make her escape easier. Before she could proceed any further, she needed to cut the power. It would send everyone into a frenzy and give her more time to make her escape. No one would notice she was gone until it was too late. Ducking into a room, Precia locked it and changed into something more comfortable. Some form fitting pants and shirt were much better than her prison clothes. Satisfied with her outfit, she looked up to the ceiling and sure enough, there was an air vent. She grabbed a chair in order to reach the vent. Pulling it out, she quietly placed it on a nearby desk before pulling herself up through the opening. According to Vice, the air ducts would easily lead her to the power room. All she had to do was be careful as she moved through the ducts.

She could already hear some of the agents mobilizing through the different areas she traveled. They must've found Vice already. Her suspicions were confirmed when the alarm blared through the hallways. That was certainly not part of her plan. The wound she'd given him definitely wouldn't kill the undercover assassin which was why she was counting on him being found much later. Preferably once she'd found her exit route. Things may not be proceeding as planned, but it wasn't a total loss. She could still get out before anyone could find her. Reaching her destination, she kicked out the vent and landed gracefully on her feet. The power room was surprisingly empty. Perhaps everyone was gathering to begin hunting for her.

"Hey! What are you doing here!"

"I spoke too soon."

Two agents entered Precia's line of sight with their guns drawn. Precia smile and cracked her neck. It'd been awhile since she had a good fight. She couldn't remember the last time she even held a weapon, but for this little skirmish, she definitely wouldn't need it. She'd have to reserve that for some other fun time.

"Get down on the ground! Now!" one of the agents took a step closer to Precia.

Precia smiled at the two agents. They immediately felt a sense of dread, however they continued to hold their ground. It was two of them versus one. How could they lose?

"Do as he says!" the other agent yelled.

The dark haired assassin slowly lowered herself to her knees and held her hands in the air. This gave the agents a bit more bravado to move close to her. One of the agents put his gun back into its holster in order to ready his hand cuffs to restrain Precia. He'd never get a chance to do so. The moment her got close enough to her, Precia immediately grabbed hold of the agents and easily took the handcuff from the agent. Then with a simple twist, she turned the agent back to face his partner. With a click, the agent found himself with his hands behind his back and a hostage to their escapee.

Without giving the other one a chance to react, Precia shoved the handcuffed agent towards his partner, forcing him to take that one moment to catch him. That was all Precia needed in order for her to punch the still armed agent to knock him out. The handcuffed agent tried his best to crawl away from Precia as the assassin picked up the gun the knocked out agent had dropped.

"P-Please, don't kill me!" He begged, no longer even trying to crawl away. He knew there was no escaping this woman. No one ever lived through an encounter with her. He was sure that once she killed him, she'd finish off his partner. It was over for them.

Instead of shooting him though, Precia smacked him across the face with the gun, effectively knocking him out in the process. She relieved the two agents of any more weapons and ammo they might have before proceeding to the power console. Pulling an ax out of her bag, she went straight to work on severing all the wire and destroying whatever she could of the control panels. She was quite satisfied when the room went dark a moment later. She wasn't surprised when the red emergency lights began to blink. So far, her plan was moving along quite well. On her way back to the air vent, she looked at the two agents unconscious bodies.

"Pathetic. You should consider yourselves lucky that I don't want to leave my Lindy even more shorthanded from all this."

Slipping herself back into the vent, Precia continued on her way through the air vents knowing that the confusion she caused was enough to give her an easy escape.

**xxx**

Lindy landed with a grunt. She was grateful that the air duct was big enough for her to fit through because otherwise, she'd been out of options for escape routes. She looked back towards the door to see why she wasn't able to open it. Much to her surprise, a pallet with boxes of paper sat right in front of the door. When did that happen? She hadn't even been in there that long. She had no time to try to figure out why she got trapped in the room. She needed to get to Precia's cell. Whatever was happening right now had something to do with her. There was no doubt in Lindy's mind about that. As she approached the hallway that housed Precia's cell, she could see her staff already gathered around trying to maintain some sort of order within the chaos.

"What's our status?" Lindy wasted no time in asking.

"Communication is compromised. We have three agents down and one badly wounded."

"Who?"

"Vice."

"Damn it." Lindy was afraid of that. Even Vice, one of their best, fell against Precia. Then again, it'd taken a whole group of them to take her out to begin with. How was she going to get her back? She had a skeleton crew compared to what she normally had to work with. "Alright, our main priority is to secure the exits. No one gets in or out. You and you," Lindy pointed to two others. "Go to the power room and get the power back on if you can. The rest of you, gather whoever you can and begin sweeping through the floors. There has to be a jammer somewhere here. Find it and we restore our communication. Of course, keep an eye out for Precia. We cannot let her escape. If you run into her do not try to take her out on her own. Understood?"

"Ma'am!"

The agents quickly scrambled to carry out Lindy's orders. Lindy wasted no time in heading towards the stair case. She needed to spread the word to as many of her agents as she could. Having the jammers made her life a lot harder but not impossible. Half way down the stairs she had an idea. If Precia was trying to escape, she wouldn't take the conventional route. Even if they blocked off all the normal exits, that didn't mean she'd escape through them. She was almost positive Precia was too smart to be that predictable. So where was she? She looked up towards the side of the wall. There was an air vent.

"It couldn't be…" Lindy quickly ran went back up the stairs to the top most floor of their underground base. "She's escaping through the vents!"

She'd been able to fit just fine and even maneuvered well enough through them. No doubt Precia would have no problem either. Upon reaching the floor, she saw a few agents dutifully guarding the elevators even if they weren't functioning at the moment.

"You four! Shoot the vent!" The four looked confused at her orders, but Lindy had no time to explain. She pulled out her own gun and shot. The other four followed suit seeing as she had not been joking with her orders. Suddenly, the vent opening at the opposite end of the lobby came off its hinges. Two cans flew out of the opening, filling the room with smoke. Tear gas quickly filled the lobby; obscuring their vision.

"Damn it!" Lindy covered her nose trying to keep herself from falling victim to the smoke. Her agents were attempting to do the same for themselves.

"Ugh!"

Lindy cursed again. One by one, she heard the cries of her agents around her. She tried not to imagine the worst, but it was hard to think anyone would be left alive by Precia.

"Well, well, I must say, I wasn't expecting to see you during this little escape."

"I can't let you get away." Lindy coughed.

"I admire your dedication to your work, but I'm afraid I can't let myself get caught."

"I'm going to catch you even if it costs me my life."

Precia said nothing. Lindy tensed; getting ready for any sort of attack on her. Instead though, she found herself suddenly having clearer vision. The smoke was disappearing. Wiping her eyes she tried her best to assess her situation. Precia though didn't give her the time she wanted. Lindy found herself on her back with some noticeable weight on top of her.

"You….!"

"Don't ever say that again."

To say she was confused was an understatement. Lindy was sure not expecting to still be conscious, much less alive, in a confrontation with Precia.

"I don't under…"

"Your life is worth more than that."

Lindy was incredibly confused now. Whatever she'd planned to do once she had Precia within her reach went out the window.

"My girls need you and I….I will not let you die. So until we meet again, stay alive my Lindy." Precia lowered her lips to Lindy's in a chaste kiss.

The green haired agent found herself unable to move or think for that matter. What was happening? The moment soon passed. Precia left the stunned agent on the floor, hastily making her way to the elevator doors. Prying the doors open, she slipped through and began her climb up to her freedom. Lindy snapped back to reality. She attempted to stand up hoping to still stop the assassin, but found herself unable to move. No matter how hard she tried, none of her muscles responded. Frustrated at her failure, but unable to do anything, Lindy resigned herself to her fate. They'd failed. Precia got away and they didn't even put up a decent fight against her.

The emergency lights stopped blinking and a moment later, the power returned. The backup generators must've finally been turned on. At least they managed to get the power back. It was little consolation for her.

**xxx**

Alicia checked her phone for the third time in the last fifteen minutes. She and Fate were trying not to worry, but this was unlike their adopted mother. Lindy wasn't ever late to pick them up and if she was, she always called or sent a text letting them know.

"You should just call her." Hayate suggested.

Hayate tried her best to look over Alicia's shoulder at the phone. Alicia sighed. She really wanted to, but had held back so far and instead settled for waiting patiently with her sister. Hayate and Nanoha though had been keeping the twins company. Nanoha's siblings were also with them since Shiro usually picked them and Shinobu up. Unlike them though, they knew their rides were running late. Shiro got caught up with work, while Signum and the others had a teachers meeting. Reinforce and Vita were around as well keeping a close eye on Hayate.

Fate took out her own phone and checked it for anything. Much to her disappointment, her phone showed nothing.

"Maybe she got caught up with work?" Nanoha suggested.

"We should just call." Fate told Alicia.

Nodding, Alicia speed dialed Lindy's number. It rang a few times before the call was sent to voicemail. Frowning, Alicia ended the call.

"She didn't pick up."

Fate now sported an identical frown as her sister. "That's not like her."

"Something happened."

"Do you think it has something to do with _her_?"

Nanoha and Hayate quickly noticed how the mood between the two blondes suddenly took a turn for the dark, but what could they do? Clearly they'd come up with some really bad reason for Lindy not answering.

"Come on now guys, she could've just forgotten her phone at home or something." Hayate tried to bring them out of their dark thoughts.

Alicia however shook her head.

"Even if she had, she'd call from work and leave a message on either of our phones."

Nanoha wished there was something she could say to ease their worries, but she knew that at this point, only a call from Lindy would make it fade. The girls were momentarily distracted when Shiro pulled up. The Takamachi siblings were about to get into the car when they were surprised to see Shiro turn it off and climb out. The look on his face was serious as his eyes landed on the twins.

"I need to speak with you two. In private."

Nodding, the two walked off a bit down the path to the school in order to speak with Shiro. Hayate and Nanoha became anxious at the seriousness Shiro showed. Did something really bad happen after all? If so, what was it? The three didn't take long before heading back toward the group.

"The girls will be spending the night with us." Shiro explained to his clearly confused kids. "Lindy is unable to leave work at the moment."

Normally, Nanoha would be beyond ecstatic that Fate would be spending the night in her home, but considering the circumstances, she wasn't able to feel that same joy.

"Did Lindy ask you?" Hayate pinned with a rather intimidating stare. It reminded Shiro of the look Gil would give to someone when he was trying to grill them for information. Hayate must've picked it up from the older man. As great as that was for her though, it didn't help his situation. He couldn't answer right away due to the fact that even though she asked a seemingly simple question, he'd be saying a lot more depending on whether he said yes or no. The last thing he wanted to do was give away just how serious the situation was. After all, the only reason he knew something was going on was because Vice got ahold of him a few minutes ago to ask him to watch the girls. He didn't elaborate on why, just that he couldn't say anything at the moment but to please keep an eye on the twins in the meantime.

"Would it be okay if I stayed with Hayate?" Alicia suddenly asked.

"Eh?" Hayate attention was immediately diverted to Alicia.

"Would that be alright, Shiro-san?" Alicia asked again.

"I don't see why not. I'm sure your mother wouldn't be opposed to the idea." Shiro was relieved that he wasn't forced to answer. Until he could find out himself what was going on, the less people knew the better.

"Fate." Alicia turned her attention to her sister. For the first time in their lives, they were willingly parting from each other. They didn't think this would happen so soon, but the situation called for it and they would not back down from this. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then."

Fate allowed the Takamachi siblings and Shinobu to climb into the car first. She spared one last look to her twin. The two nodded to each other before Fate jumped into the car as well. They both knew they had to be careful from now on. Things were moving around them in the shadows; eventually they would be pulled into that conflict. They could just feel it. The normalcy they'd lived in up until now was something they would not be able to enjoy for long. They just hoped, when the time came, they wouldn't fall so far that they couldn't return to it.

Later that night, Fate found herself unable to sleep. Too many questions were floating through her mind. After tossing and turning for a few more minutes, she resigned herself to her insomnia and rolled out of bed. Maybe some fresh air would do her some good. Making her way down the hall, she looked for the balcony. During their first visit, she distinctly remembered there was a balcony somewhere. After taking a few wrong turns, she finally found her way to her destination. There were already two lounging chairs for her to relax on. She picked one and laid back. Looking at the night sky, she tried to occupy her mind by finding all the different constellations she knew. It wasn't easy seeing as the city lights made it too bright to see most stars. It was probably one of the only things she missed from living on the lam with her mother. She and Alicia were able to watch stars together, in part, thanks to Linith. She taught them all about constellations and how to use the stars to find their way back in case they ever got lost.

"Fate-chan?"

Fate immediately sat up. She hadn't even heard her open the door. How was Nanoha always able to sneak up on her so easily?

"Nanoha?"

The auburn haired girl smiled shyly at the blonde before taking a seat on the other chair.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

Fate shook her head and went back to star gazing. Nanoha said nothing and looked up at the sky along with Fate. Nanoha didn't know much about the constellations, but she loved to just lose herself in the vast expanse of the sky. Sometimes, she imagined herself flying though the sky, free of all life's restraints. It was one of the things she looked forward to when she dreamt of her magical girl self.

"Do you ever wonder if there's something out there?" Nanoha suddenly asked.

"Out there?"

Nanoha pointed to the sky.

"Well, you know they say everyone one of those stars is actually a galaxy, millions of light years away." Nanoha lowered her arm. "Do you think there are others out there?"

Fate had never thought about it. Her life didn't leave her room to think about anything but her own survival or completing whatever job her mother had for them. Even after coming to live with Lindy, most of her time was spent trying to fit in with everyone else while knowing she'd never truly be normal.

"I can't say I've ever thought about it."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

The two fell into a comfortable silence, just enjoying this quiet moment in their lives. Nanoha though, knew she couldn't stay silent forever. She'd wanted to talk to Fate about something important for a while now but hadn't found the perfect chance to do so. What better time than now when they were all alone?

"Can I ask you something Fate-chan?"

"I don't see why not."

"Promise you won't get mad?"

Fate turned away from the sky to look at Nanoha. The auburn haired girl didn't look as comfortable as before. She couldn't help but wonder why Nanoha had suddenly gotten nervous about whatever she was going to ask.

"I won't get mad."

"Okay." Nanoha took a deep breathe. "Back at the mall, when we got ambushed…. Did you… feel anything when you killed those men?"

Fate wasn't sure how to react to that question. It almost reminded her of the daily counseling sessions she had to take with Alicia before they were allowed to even be considered for release from Riot Force 6. They had to make sure they weren't about to lose it at any moment and just kill everyone around them. Fate always found this to be a bit silly. It wasn't like they ever lost it and went on some killing spree for the sake of killing. As bad as it sounded, she and Alicia only did it as a job. If it wasn't a job then they had no reason to kill anyone. Shaking her head from those thoughts, she contemplated how to answer Nanoha's question. Would being honest be too much for Nanoha to handle? If necessary she could lie to the auburn haired girl. Lying to her would probably be the best thing to do, but did she want to?

Fate looked into Nanoha's eyes. Something about the way Nanoha looked at her told her that lying wasn't the way to go and truthfully, she didn't think she could lie to her without regretting her decision later.

Honesty it was then, even if Nanoha wouldn't like her response.

"I felt nothing."

"Nothing?"

Fate could practically hear the disappointment in her voice but she pressed on.

"They were just obstacles that needed to be eliminated."

"But what about their families? Did they ever cross your mind?"

Fate shook her head. "All I cared about was getting to you."

Nanoha took a shaky breathe. She appreciated that Fate was being so honest with her, but the answer she got wasn't what she'd hoped for.

"I don't like it." Nanoha looked down at her lap. "I mean, I'm grateful that you and Alicia-chan saved us. I don't know what would have happened to us otherwise, but I don't like that you so easily fell back on that." She looked back up at Fate. "Please, promise me you won't kill anyone again."

"Nanoha…."

"Please!"

Fate abruptly stood up and pulled Nanoha into her arms; hugging her close.

"Fate-chan?"

"I'm sorry." Fate tightened her grip on her. "I can't make that promise." The blonde pulled away slightly to look Nanoha directly in the eyes. "If I have no other option, I'll do what I must to protect you; even if that means you come to hate me."

Fate said no more and walked back into the house; leaving Nanoha with her thoughts. As she closed the door behind her, Fate clutched her chest. Why did she suddenly feel so heavy at the thought of Nanoha hating her? Fate made her way back to her room, hoping that somehow, she'd be able to get some sleep. If she was lucky, her dreams wouldn't bother her tonight.

On the balcony, Nanoha sat back down on the chair; hugging her legs to her chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew Fate wouldn't blindly agree with her request, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed at the results. If they lived in an idealistic world, maybe they wouldn't need to resort to killing, but this was the real world and sometimes unimaginable things had to be done. She didn't blame Fate nor did she resent her for her answer. Fate was just being realistic. She just wished there was a way to keep her from needing to do something so horrible again.

**AN:** And that's the end of chapter 12. Thank you for reading and if possible, leave a review. In the next chapter, Hayate and Alicia get a chance to have a talk, and Lindy deals with the aftermath of failing to stop Precia from escaping. Also, Precia pays a visit to Linith. For what? You'll just have to wait to find out. Until next time!


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